Bluejack
City
Page 4
“I
just like the looks on the bluejacked people’s faces when
they see an ‘unknown’ message popping up on their screen,”
wrote Tim De Wachter, a 15-year-old living in Belgium who replied
to questions about bluejacking over e-mail. De Wachter remembers
reading about the practice in a computer magazine where the editors
tried bluejacking. He then visited bluejackq.com and a few days
later bought a Bluetooth-capable phone.
“It’s like being a kid again and up to no good –
like the old knock on the door and run away kinda thing,”
wrote Paul Brown, a 28-year-old from the UK and another frequent
contributor to the site’s message boards. “I also like
to see when I have cheered someone up,” he said via e-mail.
But despite the innocuous and playful intentions of many bluejackers,
the mere concept of receiving an anonymous, cryptic or potentially
offensive message from someone guaranteed to be within a 30-foot
radius can potentially do more than cause confusion. While many
mobile technology enthusiasts know about Bluetooth, many people
owning and operating compatible devices on a regular basis have
no idea that they could even be bluejacked.
But the potential for real damage, at least by bluejackers, seems
slim. Pranksters do not make a secure connection to their mark when
sending a message, and what many people don’t realize is that
a phone’s Bluetooth capability can simply be turned off. The
device can also be set to an “undiscoverable” mode,
preventing it from being accessed by anyone nearby. A potentially
more dangerous practice that has recently popped up on the radar
screens of those following these types of activities is bluesnarfing.
Bluesnarfers try to establish connections with a nearby Bluetooth-capable
devices and retrieve address book, calendar or other information.
Turning a phone’s Bluetooth functionality off or to undiscoverable
mode greatly reduces the risk of this happening, however. Industry,
at least at this point, believes user education is key to reducing
the spread of these behaviors, because if anything has the power
to kill a nascent technology like Bluetooth, it’s spam. Imagine
receiving enough unwanted messages on your phone such that the memory
completely fills up, leaving no more room for important data. Let’s
not even think about the possibility of viruses. Users need to be
aware of the ethics and drawbacks associated with sending messages,
while simultaneously being prepared to deal with the potential drawbacks.
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