So if you picked up the BLE broadcast request. All you know is that *someone* within 100m is requesting bitcoin at a certain address. Not necessarily who. The *name* is both optional, and possibly just a *handle* of the user. If I'm sitting 5 ft away from someone at dinner and wanted to pay them via BLE, I might see "Monkey Dude" on my list and simply ask him "is that you?" If so, I send it. If there are two "Monkey Dude's" Then I have to bother with the address prefix, but not otherwise. [image: logo] *Paul Puey* CEO / Co-Founder, Airbitz Inc +1-619-850-8624 | http://airbitz.co | San Diego *DOWNLOAD THE AIRBITZ WALLET:* On Thu, Feb 5, 2015 at 1:46 PM, Eric Voskuil wrote: > BLE has an advertised range of over 100m. > > http://www.bluetooth.com/Pages/low-energy-tech-info.aspx > > In the case of mass surveillance that range could most likely be extended > dramatically by the reviewer. I've seen WiFi ranges of over a mile with a > strong (not FCC approved) receiver. > > WiFi hotspots don't have strong identity or a guaranteed position, so they > can't be trusted for location. > > e > > On Feb 5, 2015, at 1:36 PM, Mike Hearn wrote: > > This sounds horrible. You could basically monitor anyone with a wallet in >> a highly populated area and track them super easily by doing facial >> recognition. >> > > We're talking about BLE, still? The radio tech that runs in the so called > "junk bands" because propagation is so poor? > > My watch loses its connection to my phone if I just put it down and walk > around my apartment. I'm all for reasonable paranoia, but Bluetooth isn't > going to be enabling mass surveillance any time soon. It barely goes > through air, let alone walls. > > Anyway, whatever. I'm just bouncing around ideas for faster user > interfaces. You could always switch it off or set it to be triggered by the > presence of particular wifi hotspots, if you don't mind an initial bit of > setup. > > Back on topic - the debate is interesting, but I think to get this to the > stage of being a BIP we'd need at least another wallet to implement it? > Then I guess a BIP would be useful regardless of the design issues. The > prefix matching still feels flaky to me but it's hard to know if you could > really swipe payments out of the air in practice, without actually trying > it. > > >