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What your Bluetooth devices reveal

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Re: What your Bluetooth devices reveal

#141

Post by anonymousiam »

Within the past two years, I began leaving BT turned off on all of my devices unless I needed it. It means that I need to pause a moment to turn it on when I get in the car, use my headphones/airpods, or other BT devices.

For me, it's worth the extra trouble because I noticed a significant reduction in battery life on my mobile devices. The reduction coincided with the rollout of Apple's "Find My" service, which was followed by Google's "Find Hub" service. (I have devices in both ecosystems.)

I wish there was a separate way to opt out of the "Find" services, but AFAIK, even if you opt out, your device may still relay traffic from other nearby devices. So it seems that the only way to preserve device battery life is to just shut off the BT.

Re: What your Bluetooth devices reveal

#142

Post by efilife »

I am fucking sick of seeing this everywhere. I gave this article a benefit of the doubt until:

> Bluehood isn’t a hacking tool. It’s an educational demonstration of what’s possible with commodity hardware and a bit of patience.

> This isn’t about paranoia. It’s about understanding the trade-offs we make when we leave wireless radios enabled on our devices.

This LLM spam needs to end. Tons of people on HN got tired of this, and it often shows in the comments. Let's maybe start adding [LLM] to the titles of AI generated submissions?

Re: What your Bluetooth devices reveal

#143

Post by nofunsir »

astafrig wrote: post #116
nofunsir wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

iBeacon. They know what shelf you're standing in front of. What products you touch and read. Ever been in an Apple store? Look up. In the dark voids between the edge-to-edge backlit ceiling. There are secrets there. Watching you.

Not what iBeacon does but an entertainingly dramatic description nonetheless.

Wrong.

"products visitors pick up" [1]

[1] https://itechcraft.com/blog/ibeacon-for-retail-store/

Re: What your Bluetooth devices reveal

#145

Post by farkanoid »

Somewhat related - I've been working on a design using Nordic's NRF52840 SOC for work; Intensely focusing for the past few weeks on antenna tuning for maximum BLE range.

Part of the testing involves using the 'nRF Connect' app, which lists all nearby Bluetooth devices, plots signal strengths, and allows for some rudimentary communication. It doesn't seem to be Nordic-specific.

I'd frequently leave the app open scanning during development late in the evening, and rarely, an unidentified Bluetooth LE device would pop up for a few minutes then disappear.

Turns out it was my dad's pacemaker, which sends telemetry via Bluetooth to a 4G gateway they gave him (this only happens after he lies down with little movement apparently).

This prompted me to look into pacemakers and deactivation after death of course. I wish I hadn't, it turns out they leave it in the corpse unless it's scheduled for cremation.

Because of the aforementioned research, and the open field tests I was performing, it somehow devolved into me having a nightmare where I was RF testing at a graveyard, and the app suddenly displaying a bunch of pacemakers underground.

...I really hope this isn't possible - The signal through 6ft of dirt and concrete would be marginal but still detectable.

Re: What your Bluetooth devices reveal

#146

Post by bryanrasmussen »

trashb wrote: post #9

> We’ve normalised the idea that Bluetooth is always on. Phones, laptops, smartwatches, headphones, cars, and even medical devices constantly broadcast their presence. The standard response to privacy concerns is usually “nothing to hide, nothing to fear.” I guess anything you send out can be used to profile you. Some of my friends live on a farm near a semi busy road, however far enough from other farms to not be ab…

>I believe shopping malls often use such signals (wifi, bluetooth) to track what your travel pattern through the mall is. They know what section of the store you spend most of your time in and what storefronts you stall at.

hmm, I wonder if there is anything about using this to combat shoplifting... short google later, seems there is, but mostly everything I'm finding is just brochures and breathless corporate announcements.

found this uni project https://capstone.cse.msu.edu/2020-01/projects/meijer/

Re: What your Bluetooth devices reveal

#147

Post by chii »

anonymousiam wrote: post #141

Within the past two years, I began leaving BT turned off on all of my devices unless I needed it. It means that I need to pause a moment to turn it on when I get in the car, use my headphones/airpods, or other BT devices. For me, it's worth the extra trouble because I noticed a significant reduction in battery life on my mobile devices. The reduction coincided with the rollout of Apple's "Find My" service, which was…

> I began leaving BT turned off on all of my devices unless I needed it

i've been doing that since the inception of BT being available on my devices. I'm just surprised at so many people's cavalier attitude to security and privacy. And then later, it is too late to reverse course.

Re: What your Bluetooth devices reveal

#148

Post by nandomrumber »

Fnoord wrote: post #36
trashb wrote: post #9

> We’ve normalised the idea that Bluetooth is always on. Phones, laptops, smartwatches, headphones, cars, and even medical devices constantly broadcast their presence. The standard response to privacy concerns is usually “nothing to hide, nothing to fear.” I guess anything you send out can be used to profile you. Some of my friends live on a farm near a semi busy road, however far enough from other farms to not be ab…

Don't worry about Tesla's being tracked. Via Bluetooth this has existed for at least 7 years [1] (was mentioned on HN as well). Tesla know (also for 7 years), Musk doesn't care 'since license plates can also be tracked'. I used it in train stations, and get hits when passing highways via train or bus. Esp. fun if you stand still due to traffic lights or traffic jam, since you can try to get a visual. The only lesson…

> Not allowed

This phrasing needs to die.

Not allowed is something your parents imposed on you when you were a child.

You’re not allowed to have an ice cream, or you’re not allowed to hang out with that boy.

Laws don’t not allow anything, they only sometimes impose penalties if you’re caught breaking them.

Re: What your Bluetooth devices reveal

#149

Post by moontear »

Introducing the „are they home“ device to assist burglars. Just slap that miniature device somewhere non-suspicious on the place of your potential marks and let it run for the battery life of 7 days. Afterwards you collect it and know movements patterns.

Features automatic notifications if no movement detected for more than two days.

Re: What your Bluetooth devices reveal

#150

Post by GordonS »

chii wrote: post #147
anonymousiam wrote: post #141

Within the past two years, I began leaving BT turned off on all of my devices unless I needed it. It means that I need to pause a moment to turn it on when I get in the car, use my headphones/airpods, or other BT devices. For me, it's worth the extra trouble because I noticed a significant reduction in battery life on my mobile devices. The reduction coincided with the rollout of Apple's "Find My" service, which was…

> I began leaving BT turned off on all of my devices unless I needed it i've been doing that since the inception of BT being available on my devices. I'm just surprised at so many people's cavalier attitude to security and privacy. And then later, it is too late to reverse course.

Same. Security aside, I also didn't want to waste the battery when I knew I was unlikely to use Bluetooth.
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