Cops use all sorts of tech to track individuals. But some people are finding ways to use technology to listen back. Bluetooth signals might reveal where police are and when devices like body cams or Tasers are activated.
All Bluetooth devices have a unique 64-bit identifier called a MAC address. Often a chunk of that address is composed of an Organizational Unique Identifier (OUI), essentially a way for a device to say who it’s made by. A look at devices that are used by many police forces led Bluetooth tracking platform cofounders Alan Meekins and Roger Hicks to Axon, a company best known for Tasers.
By just reading company documentation, they were able to find the OUI. A Bluetooth identifier seems trivial, but it could reveal a lot of information about where cops are and what they’re up to, like when their body cams are recording or when they turn on the sirens to respond to a call.
Full story: How hackers are using Bluetooth to track police activity