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.

[GOP_Thug_Mom]

That was exactly what I was thinking. I would think it would be against Islam to do this since the photo would surely be provocative.

Looking at how she's wearing that burqua in the pic, I would expect to see the "scream" face in there...

[brityank]

Many thanks — great job. I’ve already sent them both along with the story to some of my friends. What a hoot!

[secret garden]

Funny thing is they haven’t worn these all over sacks for centuries. Just since the 1970s.