My mother always told me never to talk to strangers in the street, so I see no reason why I should let my phone do the same.

Even if you still think Bluetooth is a dental hygiene product, your phone knows better, and most of us are now carrying Bluetooth enabled phones, even if we are unaware of their potential.

Your phone may be in one of three Bluetooth states. Off, open to devices previously paired with, and fully discoverable - which means willing to speak to strangers.

The marketeers think there are enough of us out their wandering around in discovery mode to create a whole new marketing channel.

The idea is that billboards will have a transmitter attached to them which will beam "marketing messages" to complement their advertisements to those who pass by.

Nokia is launching a Bluetooth marketing campaign in the UK to promote its 6680 handset - joining brands like Volvo and EMI which have experimented with Bluetooth marketing.

Whether or not this is legal has yet to be decided. Some think it is a breach of privacy regulations, others think that if you're wandering around in discovery mode you have effectively given your consent.

Twentieth Century Fox and Vue Cinemas are also experimenting with Bluetooth downloads in six of their cinemas, including the one at Star City, Birmingham. You can download movie trailers and wallpapers related to two of Fox's hottest summer releases.

Fox will be encouraging you to turn on your phones - not off, like most cinemas.

I suspect if you walk in to Star City in discovery mode you'll be making a lot of new electronic friends too and potentially risking malware infection.

Although there are no known Bluetooth viruses loose in the wild, some have been bred in captivity by people who want to make a point and sell us protection products and others who have watched too many Frankenstein movies.

Bluetooth is the technology that got the short end of the wireless market - about 30 feet of it to be more precise.

The idea is that all our household digital devices chat to each other and collaborate in making our lives as complicated as possible.

Some say Bluetooth should be called "Blue long in the tooth" as its protocols have been around for decades.

There are other more secure technologies, such as near field communications (NFC) the radio-frequency technology touted by a consortium that includes Philips, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony.

Motorola and Samsung are also backing the ZigBee protocol. Meanwhile, supporters of ultra wideband (UWB) include Intel, Hewlett-Packard, and covering all horses Motorola and Samsung again.

However, if Bluetooth has enough critical mass to make it a viable marketing channel then it is likely here to stay. So I shall take my mother's sound advice and turn my Bluetooth off while walking down the road.

* Chris is managing director of Internet consultancy WebXpress. This and other unedited articles can be found at webxpress.com. E-mail: chris@webxpress.com