Highway Bluetooth detectors are spying on motorists and pedestrians

Mass Private I

DHS, the Dept., of Transportation and probably the DEA are using Bluetooth detectors to spy on motorists and pedestrians.

Government agencies like DHS and the DEA use Bluetooth detectors to gather Bluetooth data from a Wireless Sensor Network.

• Wireless technology that allows electronic devices to communicate directly with one another
• Recently emerged as viable travel time collection technology
• Open standard, allows for off-the-shelf equipment
• Detection range limited to about 328 feet (100 meters)
• Less expensive than many other options
• Flexible installation
• Some potential privacy concerns
• Detection technology relies on drivers' use of Bluetooth-enabled devices

“The whole country is doing this,” Paul Misticawi, vice president of public sector sales for traffic data software company.

Bluetooth detectors will soon be able to identify everyone

According to Michael Robertson, "sensors that re-identify vehicles specifically. Some examples given are "electronic toll tag transponders, cell-phone tracking, license plate reading, Bluetooth sniffing, magnetic signatures, (and) video tracking."

By combining a license plate or a phone number with a Bluetooth serial number, it’s possible to track citizens via their phone. Mr. Robertson said.

The DOT admits Bluetooth detectors can be used to identify anyone...
 
If an electronic device were seized by police as evidence, the MAC address could be determined and matched against Bluetooth detection records.

Similarly, users who download and use certain mobile device applications may make personal information, including their MAC addresses, known to the apps' publishers, who could then potentially mine, share or sell this information.

 Bluetooth detectors can detect a vehicles speed and location

They can detect a vehicles location, speed and altitude (according to page 25 of the Meshlium datasheet) Bluetooth detectors use a GPS-3G/GPRS realtime tracker.

According to a Delaware DOT Bluetooth brochure, most phones stay discoverable and vehicles with hands-free systems tend to always be discoverable!

How Bluetooth detectors work

According to the DOT, Bluetooth detection systems work by actively searching for in-range Bluetooth devices and capturing the unique media access control (MAC) address of each device. For a Bluetooth detection system to read the MAC address of a device, the device must be turned on and be in "discoverable" mode (i.e., broadcasting its MAC address).Because each device has a unique and permanent MAC address, Bluetooth detection systems can determine vehicle travel times and speeds by calculating the time it takes for vehicles containing Bluetooth devices to travel between two or more Bluetooth sensors that are a known distance apart.

Bluetooth detectors are secretly spying on motorists in National Parks

To mitigate the deterioration of mobility and safety an innovative traffic data detection system is needed to provide drivers with real-time travel speeds and travel time information. The system must be visually unobtrusive (hidden) with minimal impact on viewsheds and disturbance of historical and cultural landscapes. IAI and its collaborator, Sabra, Wang and Associates will develop an innovative, low profile, low cost, low power, and light weight microwave radar with WiFi/Bluetooth sensors for vehicle detection and travel time monitoring.

In other words, the gov't., wants to secretly spy on every vehicle inside our National Parks.

In-pavement magnetic detectors can identify individual vehicles

According to the DOT, arrays of magnetometers are installed in pavement at detection locations which can identify and match vehicles based on each vehicle's unique magnetic signature .In-Pavement magnetic detectors also, have close to 100 percent detection rate.

Bluetooth detectors spy on pedestrians

According to Meshilium, the idea is to be able to measure (spy) the amount of people and cars which are present in a certain point at a specific time, allowing the study of the evolution of the traffic congestion of pedestrians and vehicles.

Users have to do nothing to be detected as the WiFi and Bluetooth radios integrated in their Smartphones periodically send a “hello!” message telling about their presence.

• The MAC address of the wireless interface, which allows to identify it uniquely.
• The strength of the signal (RSSI), which gives us the average distance of the device from the scanning point.
• The vendor of the Smartphone (Apple, Nokia, etc)
• The Class of Device (CoD) in case of Bluetooth which allows us to differentiate the type of device (Smartphone, Handsfree, Computer, LAN/Network AP). With this parameter we can differentiate among pedestrians and vehicles.

Bluetooth detectors spy on entire streets and entire floors of shopping malls

Applications related to shopping and street activities:

• Number of people passing daily in a street
• Average time of the stance of the people in a street
• Differentiate between residents (daily matches) and visitants (sporadic matches)
• Walking routes of people in shopping malls and average time in each area