- Saturday, 28 November 2009
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Once a newspaper touches a story, the facts are lost forever - Norman Mailer
Saudis use Bluetooth to flirt
SAUDIS HAVE APPARENTLY come up with a better use for Bluetooth than simply just pacing manically around talking to oneself like the world’s most pretentious self-important jerk. They have begun using the short range radio system to flirt with passing strangers, according to Marketplace.
Saudi Arabia’s fiery brand of Wahhabi Islam strictly prevents the mingling of men and women who are not related to each other, leaving the unpleasant business of marriage to the families to arrange. But now Saudi yoof has come up with an innovative way to rebel. By Bluetooth.
Bluetooth was designed to work in noisy radio frequency environments and uses fast acknowledgement and frequency-hopping, meaning they hop to a new frequency after transmitting or receiving a packet of information. A Bluetooth device playing the role of the "master" can communicate with up to seven devices playing the role of the "slave". At any given time, data can be transferred between the master and a slave; but the master switches rapidly from slave to slave.
To simplify matters, it means that young Saudis can communicate with any other Bluetooth enabled phone within a 10 to 15 metre radius. Girls being chauffeur-driven round the streets of Riyadh, behind blacked out windows, find potential male candidates hanging around at the street cafés. A well timed glance and the Bluetooth pursuit is on. Sending photos is still thought to be a little bit risqué, but exchanging phone numbers is considered fair game.
Technology seems to be slowly changing the social norms in Saudi Arabia, a country still very much controlled by the religious police, aptly known as “the committee to prevent vice and promote virtue". An ex mentor to Bin Laden, Salman Al-Oadah, even admits that it has now become impossible properly to police the Internet and that as long as men and women stick to safe and proper subjects of conversation (nice weather today isn’t it?), it’s alright by him.
The cyber savvy cleric has even opened his own website, Islam Today. Just don’t expect a 'Hey girls, want to meet a Mullah?' chat room on there any time soon. µ
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I knew that one technology or another will finally penetrate the chastity belt of the Saudi society.
Wahhabi? the master? one of 7 slaves?
I'm surprised this doesn't present a confusing role problem.
Why has nobody demanded that Bluetooth change the terminology?!
Lets see, I send bluetooth message to female in passing car - car drives off. With a range of 10-15 metres I doubt she is going to be able to reply in time!

Big flaw in your communication method there mate, 
stupid method of communication, crap article applicable to anyone and anything anywhere not just the saudi's 'romance' game.

surely the inquirer has better technology issues to report on - please don't go down the dailytech route........
This has been going on for quite a while maybe in saudi arabia it's starting to catch on but all over the middle east. Specifically north Africa, Lebanon, Jordan and qatar.
what a load of claptrap. This isn't news, we've been doing it since the advent of bluetooth. approx 8 years then.

It's become such a problem, we've even learnt how to turn BT off...something I am sure many in the UK would like to do...:)
"big flaw in your communication method there mate,
stupid method of communication, crap article applicable to anyone and anything anywhere not just the saudi's 'romance' game."


you send your message with a phone number.... jeez does a yank need to spell it out for you?
I've been in Riyadh last year and it's true. Switch on your bluetooth in any busy shopping centre and you'll see a big list of others with bluetooth on. Some names were in arabic, which I couldn't understand, but some just wrote their phone number. I spoke to the locals at work and they all say this is the way to hook up with a girl. That's one of the reason why they have family only shopping days during the weekend, if you're single, you can't enter the shopping centre.
At the end of the day, Saudi youths do all the things young people do in the west, it's just that the system makes it a bit more difficult, but not impossible. :) Of course, this is something that the Muttawa will never admit to and they try to portrey Saudi Arabia as the perfect Islamic, family oriented place to live.
Of coarse the wahabbee guys need mobiles.
how else they gonna keep track of their 72 virgins?
wonder what network has the best coverage in alah land?
"...it has now become impossible properly to police the Internet..."

Impossible properly? Wossat, then, some new kind of impossible, is it?

AT adds: No, It's an un-split infinitive. Look it up.