UK’s Information Commission opens the way for Bluetooth spam
Rating: what was it thinking?
By Annie Turner
The UK’s Information Commissioner has thrown its hands up in the air and said that Bluetooth is beyond it regulatory remit ended because it is not covered in the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), part of the data protection legislation. Dunno why not. Makes no sense to me.
Well, we all know what will happen now. Unscrupulous gits of all stripes will be happy to spam the hell out of us all via Bluetooth until there is such a terrific backlash of public outrage, that the authorities do something about it. Yes, you can turn Bluetooth off or ensure that you are not discoverable through it, but how many people are sufficiently device savvy? Perhaps more than we think as the main users of Bluetooth tend to be kids as they don’t have to pay for it.
However, this is not the point. A couple of my blogs from the Mobile Marketing Forum in Barcelona have touched on the subject of trust and how important it is that consumers trust the operators and all the elements of the ecosystem if mobile marketing is to succeed. Now it’ll be like the Wild West/Crazy Frog run amok – very damaging.
The Mobile Marketing Association has stepped up to the plate and said it will be working on industry guidelines around Bluetooth in the coming weeks. Large, responsible advertisers and marketers toe the line because they are anxious to protect their brand and reputation, but the trouble won’t come from them. It will arise from the grab-a-quick-buck brigade who operate through short-lived companies.
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