Bluejacking
Posted by Nathan Hubbard on March 28th, 2007 at 2:56pm
‘Bluejacking’ is a relatively new and somewhat bizarre phenomena of sending unsolicited messages over Bluetooth to Bluetooth-enabled devices such as mobile phones, PDAs or laptop computers. It involves sending a vCard which typically contains a message in the name field to another bluetooth enabled device.
Bluetooth has a very limited range, usually around 10 metres on mobile phones, but laptops can reach up to 100 metres with powerful transmitters. The origin of the name is disputed, but it is widely believed that the term ‘bluejacking’ comes from the words ‘Bluetooth’ and ‘hijacking’. However, a bluejacker doesn’t hijack anything. He or she merely uses a feature on the sender and the recipient’s device. Both parties remain in absolute control over their devices,.  A bluejacker cannot take over control of another phone or steal personal information.
The unsolicited message looks like an SMS but the user is mystified as it does not have a phone number or any way of tracing its sender. Messages tend to be quite limited as most mobiles will only display the first line of the contact on the screen, but that’s normally room to come up with something amusing.
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Bluejacking is usually technically harmless, but because bluejacked people don’t know what is happening, they think their phone is malfunctioning. Usually, a bluejacker will only send a text message, but with modern phones it’s possible to send images or sounds as well. Bluejacking has been used in guerrilla marketing campaigns to promote advergames.
A number of website communities have been dedicated to the phenomena.
http://www.bluejackers.co.uk/what.htm
http://bluejackaddicts.com/
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