Scanning of unrecognized bluetooth devices?!?!

[JaseP]

Sound good as a feature,... for security, for example,... ?!?!

As the system scans Bluetooth for "follow me" signals, also have it pick up any bluetooth signals it is unfamiliar with, log them, try to pick up device identification information,  and forward that info to the primary user. You figure that people who enter a home illegally (or just kids coming over to the house when your rug rats are grounded) would probably be too dumb to turn off their Bluetooth,...

If the house is robbed, the primary user could forward the identification info to the authorities to verify the ID of the burglar. If it's just teenagers over when they're not supposed to be,... busted.

Also, bluetooth signals from regular visitors can be logged and use to trigger events,... like turn on lights or a smart announcement system... a kind of wireless doorbell... or even set up an intercom session with a user in a less accessible part of the house ...

I'm not a coder, but I know that there are already Bluetooth proximity programs to unlock desktops or trigger some other program or event.

Good idea??? (Or one that's already come up?)

[Marie.O]

Those bluetooth mac addresses are already stored in the system in the list of unknown devices.

[JaseP]

Yes,...

But there are tools to get more ID information from bluetooth devices without connecting to them... and without going as far as "bluesnarfing." And what I am proposing is to have a setting to alert the primary user when unknown devices enter scanning range, as well as attempting to pull the user ID data (what the phone calls itself). The MAC address off a phone and the ID string should be enough to identify a device. In the case of someone who has broken in, and the system started taking snapshots with the cameras, if the police are able to recover the cell phone, the logs can be used to get a positive ID on the perpetrator.

By the way, I just noticed that a bunch of people have filed a patent application (late 2010, early 2011) for the kind and sort of bluetooth proximity detection scheme that LinuxMCE has been using for years... I would suggest that someone with connections with the EFF or whatever alerts them, so some patent busting can go on... It's us patent #20110028093 : Bluetooth proximity detection system and method of interacting with one or more bluetooth devices .

I take it none of you are on the team that "invented" the above?!?! Anyone working on the LinuxMCE "follow me" features may want to organize the documentation of the prior art involved.

[JaseP]

Update,...

The referenced patent has apparently been granted. It covers nearly the exact kind of thing that LinuxMCE has been doing since at least 2007, if not earlier.

Many of the patent "inventors" are academicians... Working in the (corporate sponsored) engineering departments of their various institutions. In my humble opinion, these men (yes, they are all men, I checked,... not like ladies wouldn't do this too for the right money too) ARE PLAGIARISTS, and should be fired from their positions!!!

I am highly incensed, to the degree that my wife asked me what (expletives deleted) was the matter with me... Maybe I'm just too self-righteous,... but to me this is STEALING. I can't claim that I am the first line person hurt by this (the LinuxMCE developers as well as the developers of the various Linux Bluetooth libraries and applications it is based on are). However,... something NEEDs to be done.

I have informed the EFF of the patent (two attorneys there). The 2 I informed were members of the EFF's patent busting team. While I am an attorney, I am not a practicing attorney (still licensed, not disbarred or anything) and I am not a patent attorney (there is a separate bar for that). I also believe that we should appeal to these men's academic sensibilities. Being accused of plagiarism is not a mild thing for an academic (my father is an academic, and a distinguished Professor of Physics and the longest serving professor at his institution,... and despite my jokes to the contrary, one heck of an educator). Professors, most of the good ones anyway, are a bunch who would not sit idly by as their reputations were impugned (it hurts future employment opportunities, plus they tend to be a moral sort).

It is my understanding that in patent law, each named inventor has the right to grant license on their invention. If we can convince one of these men to grant an irrevocable license to the FSF, it would act as an impasse to any future development (I'd insist on a public apology too).

[Marie.O]

imho the Bluetooth mac address is unique enough for verification if a specific phone was nearby. The other type of information can easily be faked/changed. Faking the bt address is probably doable as well, but not as easily as the name for the average Jack the ripper

[JaseP]

Many phone OSes don't let you change the BT's MAC... And most criminals are too stupid to realize that their BT can be tracked, or even make an attempt to turn it off, let alone spoof it.

[_if_]

wouldn't simple motion detection be much more effective than hoping that anybody would be stupid enough to not switch off bluetooth at his phone?

just my 2 cents
IF

[JaseP]

Motion detection is fine,... so is a routine to activate the cameras afterward,... But if the perpetrator is hooded or hiding their face, you won't get a positive ID,... A cell phone's Bluetooth MAC address is unique though (unless it's been hacked to change it). Plus the feature can be used to announce guests too. A MAC is easier than using facial recognition. Plus, as far as I know, nobody has a security system that scans MAC addresses and logs them... And it shouldn't be too hard to enact.

[Marie.O]

Again, most of what you are suggesting is already in place. Maybe not the announcement part, but LinuxMCE does already track the MAC address

[JaseP]

Hence, a very easy to implement feature request... 

[Marie.O]

Once you got it going, feel free to submit a trac feature_patch.

[JaseP]

I'm going to have make adjustments based on signal strength and duration. When I set up a test core over the holiday weekend, the Bluetooth dongle in the core was detecting every other car that drove by as a new Bluetooth event. Very annoying (I live on a high traffic road). The BT dongle was a cheap $2 one too (one of a batch I got that all had the same MAC address, not modifiable, cheap Chinese knock offs).

Bluemon would be a perfect choice for this,... but I have to find documentation on the package ...