US Air Force Aims High With Bluespam

from the droppin-bombs dept

Wed, Apr 11th 2007 11:41am — Carlo Longino

It seems that more and more brands and companies are trying to market themselves via Bluespamming -- sending out unsolicited messages and requests for connections to nearby mobile phones via Bluetooth. Marketers that use the practice, of course, don't call it Bluespam, and see it as a wonderful mechanism to use, even though the vast majority of people that receive the messages aren't interested in them. Now, it's the US Air Force that's turning to Bluespamming, as it plans to use the method to harass mobile phone users at a NASCAR race this weekend. A rep says Bluespamming will help prove the Air Force's high-tech chops to impressionable kids, while somebody from its ad agency says that it will help attract "tech savvy" recruits. Would they say the same things about email spam? Probably not. It's hard to see how annoying just about anybody with a Bluetooth phone in a particular area is a good way to market yourself, and never mind the horrific user experience of delivering content via mobile marketing. Needless to say, it's great to see the US government getting into the spamming business.

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21 Comments

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dorpus, 11 Apr 2007 @ 12:27pm

Impersonating the Air Force
So if some pervert wanted to, could he impersonate an air force officer and grab teenage boys at NASCAR?
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- Yet Another anonymous coward, 11 Apr 2007 @ 12:43pm
  
  Re: Impersonating the Air Force
  dorpus - please travel either east or west until you fall off the edge of the flat earth you live on...
  
  You have to be an Air Force recruiter (or a W supporter) trying to take this thread off beat and ignore the real problem here.
  
  So, Congress passes CAN-SPAM, but the military wants to produce it's own. Of course, they would be immune to prosecution.
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EH, 11 Apr 2007 @ 12:39pm

tech savvy?
How tech savvy are they if they are getting spammed in the first place?
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- Anonymous Coward, 11 Apr 2007 @ 2:43pm
  
  Re: tech savvy?
  How tech savy are they if they are impressed by getting spam?
  
  If they are I bet they also respond to the Stocks that are sent to them that are about to increase 1200% or body part enlargement adds.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Apr 2007 @ 1:21pm

Stupid
I hate it when people spam me, email or otherwise. Doing so from a distance that I can reach you just won't be good for your health.
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23 Year Old College Grad, 11 Apr 2007 @ 1:27pm

They've been in the junk mail business for years. From 18 to about 21 or so I got something every week from some branch of the US Military asking me to join up.

Spam and Bluespam are merely baby steps away from junk mail, so this doesn't surprise me one bit.
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- Fred, 11 Apr 2007 @ 1:56pm
  
  Re:
  Just telll them you're gay, so they'll leave you alone.
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m@, 11 Apr 2007 @ 1:49pm

NASCAR They'll Go To
but they won't waste their time at a College Republicans Event
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Apr 2007 @ 2:15pm

I dont think they will find to many tech savy people at a NASCAR race anyhow.
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- Disgusted, 11 Apr 2007 @ 2:49pm
  
  Re:
  What are you talking about they have tech savvy people at nascar. they use lighters to light their cigarettes.. And that stuff they call plastic to store their chew in,...
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  - Anonymous Coward, 11 Apr 2007 @ 2:56pm
    
    Re: Re:
    What about the ankle bracelets their probation officers gave them? Don't those count as technology? They must by savvy since they were able to attend the event.
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- DV Henkel-Wallace, 11 Apr 2007 @ 6:47pm
  
  Not so many tech-savvy at NASCAR?
  Hmm, guess you've never heard of Jeri Ellsworth.
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James, 11 Apr 2007 @ 2:43pm

Rediculous
This isn't news. Most bluetooth devices can be set to be "undiscoverable" or "invisible" thus bypassing this supposed hazard.

And yes, I believe is someone can figure out how to hookup their bluetooth headset they can figure this out, too.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Apr 2007 @ 2:43pm

I just released from the Air Force working for them on computers. They say that they have too many and that is why I'm out now. Yet they try to recruit some red neck at NASCAR come now. They must be smarter than that.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Apr 2007 @ 3:17pm

Ya know - I think bluespamming will be entertaining for a little bit."Wow - that's clever" kinda reaction until it gets annoying.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Apr 2007 @ 3:42pm

If you think NASCAR fans are rednecks and uninformed, go to a race. You might be surprised by the number of fans that show up in million dollar plus motorhomes.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Apr 2007 @ 4:05pm

@15:

Do you mean to say that millionaires - by definition - cannot be rednecks and/or uninformed?
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|333173|3|_||3, 11 Apr 2007 @ 4:36pm

@16
Rich texan, lives in a big house, address 1600...
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Apr 2007 @ 6:36pm

@17

HEE HEE HEE

Right on!
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Anti-Spam, 12 Apr 2007 @ 7:48am

A spam by any other name...
Bluespamming, eh?

Can we just shorten it to B.S.?
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Mike Williamson, 12 Apr 2007 @ 11:08am

So?
I'd like to add invoking "W," "Rove" and "Neocon" to Godwin's Law. As soon as you see one of them, you know it's time to stop reading.

However:
By entering the track you consent to their advertising. And, quoting another: First, someone has to have a bluetooth phone. Second they have to turn it on. Third they have to be within 30 or so feet of your broadcast location. Fourth, they have to enable all bluetooth connections. Fifth, they have to know how to read your message. Sixth, they have to care enough to buy your product.
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