Researchers are using Bluetooth technology to observe the meanderings of tens of thousands of festival-goers at a top European rock festival, hoping their findings will launch a new generation of tracking devices.(visit the link for the full news article)
We have installed 36 Bluetooth scanners across the site and along a few surrounding roads, as well as bus stops
Within a radius of 30 meters, the scanners track mobile phones equipped with Bluetooth, a type of short-range wireless technology which allows different devices to connect with one another, often to transfer files
the masses flocking to see Coldplay, Kings of Leon or Metallica need not worry about their privacy
The researchers will only track the devices' MAC address -- a number that identifies each device on a network -- which cannot be traced to phone numbers or personal details
Active ModeThis suggests to me that Bluetooth must be 'turned on' to have a valid number. But then I dont know anyone who leaves their phone with Bluetooth on the whole time, because it drains the battery much quicker, so I dunno, seems like they wouldn't bother doing it if that were the case. I wonder if putting the phone on 'invisible' would prevent detection?
In the active mode, the Bluetooth unit actively participates on the channel. The master schedules the transmission based on traffic demands to and from the different slaves. In addition, it supports regular transmissions to keep slaves synchronised to the channel. Active slaves listen in the master-to-slave slots for packets. If an active slave is not addressed, it may sleep until the next new master transmission.
AM_ADDR
Active Member Address. It is a 3 bit number. It is only valid as long as the slave is active on the channel. It is also sometimes called the MAC address of a Bluetooth unit.
