Police in Bradford are using Bluetooth technology to try and catch drug dealers in the city. Officers are using the system to send messages to residents' mobile phones, asking them for information about drugs in their communities. The messages will also be sent to people's laptops.Says the BBC.
I don't know about you but the bluetooth capabilities of my mobile and laptop are switched off unless I'm actively using them for data transfer and if I got a request to receive a package from an unknown source during the infrequent times they were active I'd decline to do so.
Looking back to a post I wrote last year about a similar scheme in Devon and Cornwall I'd warn people in Bradford to think carefully before accepting any bluetooth message from the police.
Posts
9 comments:
My bluetooth is always off when I'm not using it, but have you ever tried a search in a pub to see how many hits you get? It's usually quite a few.
If I got a message from the cops asking about drugs, I'd simply send them to someone I don't like.
My 8 year old phone and 4 year old laptop don't have Bluetooth - that's one less thing to worry about!
I don't know about you but the bluetooth capabilities of my mobile and laptop are switched off unless I'm actively using them for data transfer
Ditto.
Bluetooth? Oh come on.... it has a range of a few metres, tops. What are the cops doing? Sneaking down streets at night to stand outside a house in the hope the occupants - if they have a Bluetooth mobile - might have it switched on?
I suspect the usual standards of BBC fact-recognition, comprehension and reporting here. And usual levels of complete gullibility elsewhere.
Hi formertory.
Apparently they'll send the messages from computers while sitting in cars. Apparently.
How many people in Bradford are currently changing their phone's identity to Bacon? Probably not that many come to think of it ;o)
Likewise, mine is always switched off except on the very rare occaisions when I want to use it.
Thanks for that, Man Widdicombe; so really it's no news at all, inasmuch as it's the Police sitting in cars doing eff-all that's useful......
Marvellous. We pay, they sit round keeping warm waiting for the 30-years-service bailout at 48, index-linked for the next 40 years.
All the while, looking for the one person in thousands who's got a Bluetooth mobile, switched on, in discoverable mode, and who's prepared to accept the connection. It'd be much more effective to knock on the door, surely.... though not as comfy.
I despair, sometimes. I really do.
My pleasure formertory.
I vaguely remember the Devon and Cornwall story from last year. The police force there set up stalls in shopping centres and engaged mambers of the public face to face to inform them of the exciting new bluetooth messaging opportunities rather than using analogue data exchange methods like, you know, talking.
I also despair .. .. ..
Yes, yes, yes, but MOST people - mostly non-geeks remember, or else youngsters who just don't care - keep their bluetooth turned on, with visibility on too, all the time. They won't even know whether their laptops have Bluetooth, or indeed what Bluetooth actually is.
And they'll accept anything that's sent to them, even if (especially if) it pops up on some dodgy web site they've never seen before and links to something with a .ru domain name - which, again, they will never notice or care about anyway.
For most people this is actually quite likely to "work". As the malware purveyors will soon discover.
There's one born every minute!
Post a Comment