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New invasion of privacy scandal as it's revealed our Bluetooth signals are being intercepted by businesses and State-funded public buildings

• Scanners in bars, offices and universities register nearby Bluetooth devices and send the information to a central database in Police State UK

Bluetooth interception map

The latest in a never-ending line of invasion of privacy scandals has exposed a Big Brother network of hidden scanners is monitoring hundreds of thousands of Britons without their knowledge and permission and comes as no surprise to News Alliance.

So-called 'scientists' are tracking people walking around British cities, using the Bluetooth signals from our mobiles phones, laptops, headsets and handheld computers. The sophisticated scanners in bars, offices, libraries and universities register nearby Bluetooth devices and send the information to a central database in Big Brother Britain.

The Cityware project sounds rather innocuous but is in fact invading our privacy secretly - until now. The 'project' which is funded by £1.2million of taxpayer's money, started in Bath three years ago and is designed to chart how pedestrians use city centres. Apparently, it will be used to 'improve' their design, learn how people use public transport and shops and work out how epidemics can spread.

There are thousands of scanners globally, of which 1,000 are actively tracking passers-by at any one time. Three-thousand people in Bath were monitored in one weekend alone and this shows that no area of privacy is out of bounds in Police State UK.

The scientists behind Cityware deny they are intruding on privacy, despite growing concerns over Britain's total surveillance society. Typically, they say the signals they get from phones and laptops do not reveal personal information but critics say the signals can contain the owner's details.

Bluetooth devices use radio wave signals to communicate with each other and can be intercepted by anyone with the right equipment. There are dozens of software suites available on the internet but we will not identity them to ensure that people do not get into the business of using Bluetooth spy software to steal data. To ensure greater security the user should ensure that the Bluetooth connection is encrypted with a security pin code and set to 'do not show phone'.

If Bluetooth is switched on, a gadget will broadcast its name and ID number to anyone within 100 metres. The name can be changed by the owner and often includes their own name, email address or phone number and sometimes credit card details and corresponding pin codes. The scanners convert the data into maps showing the movement of people over time.

Bath MP Don Foster said: 'This is another infringement of our civil liberties and another step closer to the Big Brother state. We need a guarantee that all data is made anonymous before it is analysed.'

Simon Davies, of human rights watchdog Privacy International, said: 'This could become the CCTV of the mobile industry. It would not take much to make this a surveillance infrastructure over which we have no control.'

WHO WATCHES THE WATCHERS? WE DO....

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