Bluetooth marketing window could be shut

A window of opportunity for marketing by Bluetooth technology that opened in October could be closed once more, the UK Government has said. Definitions in privacy regulations are being checked, stakeholders are being consulted, and the law could change. Bluetooth is a standard that lets devices share data wirelessly. Most …

[Anonymous Coward]

Not sure about the law ...

... but on my way home from work, a car dealer has a bluetooth push, which tries to send a picture of a car.

It is ****ing annoying, as it makes my headset beep, as though I've received a text. If it wasn't for the fact I am waiting to be bluejacked by Paris Hilton, I'd set it to "refuse" push messages, instead of "always ask ....

[Daniel Bentham]

Well is technology an excuse to ignore the law

Well does the way the spam is sent to you matter, its still spam wether its in the post, email , text message or now bluetooth. The law needs to be clear that its the message not the way its sent that is the problem.

[Tony W]

Rely on advertisers not to be annoying?

Many advertisers are quite happy to annoy people provided that they get their product noticed. And who says it will be restricted to local stores? There's nothing to stop national advertising being pushed as well.

[Iain]

Umm... turn it off?

I tend to have my Bluetooth set to only be available to my paired devices. Is it me or does this not seem an obvious way to prevent this marketing, legal or not? If I need to receive something I will change my settings for those few minutes only. On my phone that only take three button presses. Obviously if you have (as I used to) a Nokia N servies phone this will take more like 20 million million button presses just to find the Bluetooth menu.

[Allen Versfeld]

Self-defeating

There aren't any such regulations where I live, so a major shopping mall near my home has been using this stuff for the last year or so. Except that it's SO annoying that everybody disables bluetooth on their phones. (Mind you, I've yet to see a phone which ships with it enabled so maybe it was always off...)

So they've now had to put posters up begging the customers to "Switch on your bluetooth and win a prize!"

It's a self-defeating technology. I can't think of any use for having your bluetooth both enabled, and set to allow random connections from anywhere. It's not like a newspaper, or TV show where you put up with the ad to get some other benefit.

[Anonymous Coward]

Turned off

Mines turned to paired only, but imagine walking up the High street and getting messages from just 10% of the shops, you would turn it off by the time you got to the end and no more advertising.

Strange Bluetooth messages.

"Big Issue Sir"

"Roast Chestnuts, come back here and get em"

p.s saw a big issue pusher saturday that had a Blackberry - ????????, and one the other day in Leeds that had 5 phone calls whilst i was feeding my fat face nearby (no-one ever rings me - cry's).

Alien because they have landed (in Leeds)

[Eileen Bach]

@Daniel Bentham

I agree. The messages should be restricted to Public Service Announcements only. ...So you're walking past a resturant which has a ''poster in the window - bogof. Your blacktooth message should be something like ' Remember, comrades, that burgers have chemicals and saturated fat and having two is worse for you than one is'. 'Don't drop litter and mind how you go'. Probably.

[Anonymous Coward]

Have to agree Iain,

Why would anyone have their phone set to discoverable anyway?

It seems like a no-brainer to me (hence the Paris Hilton icon).

[Fluffykins]

OK, I'll be delighted to receive unsolicited advertising

Absolutely delighted, in fact.

Please be aware, however that this is a chargeable service. My terms for receiving your unsolicited advertising, reviewing it and acting on it as I deem fit is £100 per item to be paid within 30 days. Multiple instances of the same item will be charged as separate items. Your action in sending any unsolicited advertising to me or any device I own will be deemed to confirm your unconditional and irrevocable acceptance of my terms and a contract shall then exist between us.

There, I think that's about right.

[mark carlisle]

switching it off..

..what a good idea. if only more people took notice.

it's truely amazing how many unique and wonderful names people use for their handsets and how easy it would be to connect to them(if you were the sort of scumbag who did that sort of thing of course)

my favourite bluetooth message is the following:

"pornography has been detected on your handset. Please contact customer services immediately!'

nothing to do with Paris ;0

[Brett Brennan]

Aren't you stealing wireless?

If it's illegal to connect to an open 802.11 access point, isn't it illegal to connect with a Bluetooth "access point" as well? If I'm not mistaken, receiving the "broadcast" is intercepting a "private" communication...

(yeah, I know "broadcast" is the key term - unidirectional - but it's soooo tempting...)

(coat - door - ass - missed!)