Bluespam: Now Legal In The UK, Still Dumb Everywhere
from the don't-bother dept
Bluespamming -- the process of sending marketing messages to mobile phones via Bluetooth -- has been a pretty dumb idea from the start. You're basically bothering people who are on the go and who don't care to hear from and effectively invading the "personal space" that is their mobile phone. Unfortunately, it appears that over in the UK, they've now decided that bluespamming is legal. The Information Commissioners Office there removed bluetooth as a marketing medium that requires opt-in notification. However, there's also some good news on the bluespamming front. Companies that are doing it are discovering that it's useless. It doesn't deliver results and is a waste of time, effort and money. But, it's legal!Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: bluespam
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Re:
Reminds me of working for a retailer that had a policy that the shop door must be open all day to show the company was inviting. It was funny because no one gave a shit about the door being opened or closed, except in winter when the customers got pissed off and left because it was so cold due to the door being constantly left open...
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Do you think...
How will that whole thing of "If something's illegal, it's more attractive" affect this situation?
Being a useless advertising medium is probably why they haven't made it illegal. It's been said on here what a waste of time some laws are, maybe, just maybe, they realised it for this.
/First?
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Re: Do you think...
Ahem. Anyway, I have to agree with this here. I don't know exactly how it works, but it seems to me that it will do more to piss people off, and unlike email spam, users of bluetooth devices are going to be more sophisticated, and will most likely find a way to complain about it, or will know how to prevent it (by turning off bluetooth discovery)
EtG
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fits the pattern
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Legal means Implied consent (BlueTooth)
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Seems futile....
I only use it if someone has something I want i.e. a pic or ringtone or the like, then I turn it off afterwards.
I would find it exceptionally annoying if I did leave it turned on and started getting crap sent to me. For me it would have rather the opposite effect, in that if a company sent me something that way, I'd just think f**k off you twats!
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bluetooth
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bluetooth
however, i sorta like the idea of bluespamming. it tells people that if your not smart enough to use your phone, dont add another risk by turning on your bluetooth. (have you ever heard of bloover)
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so what's the problem?
Bluespam; Nobody's doing it, nobody would want to, but we should still be making laws against it?
What gives?
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Seems like the Hookers could use this one
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