Lifting the Veil Using a 'Bluetooth Burqa'

Spiegel Online ^ | February 25, 2008 | Staff

[forkinsocket]

A burqa may not be the flirtiest garment ever invented for women. The highly modest head-to-toe robe even shrouds the eyes, so for centuries it's been difficult for women wearing them to send suggestive signals to men.

But now a German designer has debuted a digitally-enabled burqa that can broadcast a photo of the wearer to nearby mobile phones. Markus Kison calls it the "CharmingBurka," and says it isn't forbidden by Islamic law.

A model demonstrated a prototype of Kison's garment at the Seamless 2008 design and fashion show in Boston, a high-tech fashion event run with support from the Masschusetts Institute of Technology.

Kison says the burqa has a "digital layer" that incorporates a Bluetooth antenna, which lets women "decide for themselves where they want to position themselves virtually." Nearby mobile phones that also use Bluetooth will light up with any small file a woman chooses to broadcast as her identity -- a photo, a cartoon, a text file or even a sound clip.

Kison's broadcast technology started as a marketing tool; the so-called "Bluebot" system is meant to send digital advertisements to passing phones. But Kison's new design turns a burqa into a walking MySpace page.

[forkinsocket]

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[MacDorcha]

So all women who wear burqas from now on are going to be in essence walking AIM convrsations.

Wonderful.

[Fiddlstix]

Just what the world needs......
I don't know how we lived without it all these years.....

[phrogphlyer]

OK ....

[I see my hands]

Hmm, Muslim women may only use electronic communication yet Amish women may not use it at all.

Must be something there. Or, more likely, nothing.

[robomatik]

i’ve been working on a prototype of this in my garage for years. i even mortgaged my house to pay for r&d. aargh! back to the drawing board...

[ProtectOurFreedom]

This is wrong on so many levels. A Neanderthal society that imprisons its women in these primitive shrouds uses technology invented in the West to circumvent their inane religious rules. Unbelievably stupid.

[Slings and Arrows]

If it means that we can put a bag on Helen Thomas, I'm all for it.

[JCG]

Nearby mobile phones that also use Bluetooth will light up with any small file a woman chooses to broadcast as her identity -- a photo, a cartoon, a text file or even a sound clip.

Here's a cartoon for ya...




----

Send treats to the troops...
Great because you did it!
www.AnySoldier.com

[brityank]

What she sends:

What she is:

(Someone can surely make a revised pic, no?)

[DuncanWaring]

Somehow, the phrase “Pig in a poke” was coming to mind.

[Teflonic]

Oh nooo! When this tech gets into the hands of American teenagers, walking down the street will give you pages and pages of phone spam.

[Proud_USA_Republican]

Medieval savages can’t mix with a modern society no matter how many stupid ideas like this they come up with.

And thats exactly what a burka is. A Medieval outfit forced upon women to control them. The book of death, the Koran, doesn’t even order women to wear burkas. Thats how idiotic all this pandering is. They are pandering to 8th century throwbacks.

[LibertyRocks]

I’m sorry, but I can’t help but think she looks like a Ring Wraith! Albeit in blue, not black! LOL

[KittyKares]

This is so dumb — needing technology to see her face. Just let her take the stupid veil off.

[metmom]

Markus Kison calls it the "CharmingBurka," and says it isn't forbidden by Islamic law.

That's totally irrelevant. The muzzie thought police will make up some excuse to stone the first woman they catch using one.

[MinuteGal]

Don't worry, the imams will quickly reinterpret their Sharia law and fix any loophole......and the flirty ladies behind the veil will NOT be grandfathered in if they're using any electronic devices.

Leni

[metmom]

What’s really stupid is that a woman could take a picture of herself somewhere else and send it from her phone anyway. Who needs a high priced burka.

I’m more surprised that they haven’t yet invented a burka that has signal blocking capabilities so they can’t use their cells phones. Maybe you could work on that instead, robomatik. ;)

[Proud_USA_Republican]

On a plane trip to Oklahoma, I ended up sitting next to a plain clothes saudi male. Worked for the saudi oil industry. He was drinking wiskey the entire flight. Even he was admiting to me how messed up it was that you couldn’t see what women looked like in public. I will always remember this, he said, “Dating in my country is the worst! You see a woman walking in a mall, and if you even find a way to get her your number, once the burka comes off, she ends up looking like Rosanne Barr!”. He was soo wasted, he had to practically be carried off the plane.

All the years later, I never forgot that.

[KittyKares]

So true. How would a man know she really looks like what she is broadcasting? Maybe that will give the women an air of mystery. I can envision all these men on the streets checking out the babes on their cell phones. Too funny.