SMS Weblogs / Textually / 2003 / 11 / 12

Cell Phone Messaging Turns Mischievous

A good article in Silicon Valley.com on Bluejacking, a new fad briefly posted about last week which is rapidly spreading.

Journalist Mat Moore gives examples of "bluejacked" victims; surreptitiously surprised with a text message sent using a short-range wireless technology called Bluetooth. And you can see why this catching on and spreading like wildfire, it looks like alot of fun:

-- A group of tourists strolling through Stockholm's old town never knew what hit them.

As they admired Swedish handicrafts in a storefront window, one of their cell phones chirped with an anonymous note: "Try the blue sweaters. They keep you warm in the winter."

-- "I bluejacked three or four people," said 13-year-old Ellie of Surrey, who runs the site www.bluejackq.com and makes bluejacking a daily affair. "But one of them was particularly memorable. He was with his wife and I bluejacked him in a coffee shop. The look on his face!"

Using Bluetooth, which has a range of about 30 feet, she sent him a note asking how his coffee was and noting that she liked his wife's glasses.

Ellie said he looked and high and low and tried to figure out where the message came from, even sending text messages back and forth with his wife, but to no avail."

Of note! "A bluejacker could even send someone a photo taken with a camera phone using Bluetooth. It doesn't cost a thing since the message isn't being routed through any phone company".

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