Re: Here comes the cell phone ad disaster!

On Jun 17, 1:46=A0am, gordonb.d8...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 (Gordon Burditt) wrote:
> >Actually all my phones have been registered with DO NOT CALL. =A0I
still
> >received a text message in a shopping center a month ago from some
> >local robot that sensed my nearby cellphone. I thought it was neat and
> >at the same time I was annoyed that they could do that.
>
> That part is scary: =A0your phone should not be identifying itself
> to the immediate area around you. =A0If it can, that means any terrorist
> or hit person or ex-wife can build a bomb that goes off when YOU,
> and only YOU, approach it. =A0It's great if you are a hit man. =A0It's
> not so great if you are a person with a serious enemy, like most
> government officials of any country, or are someone who annoyed
> some psycho on the freeway yesterday. =A0It may be possible to do
> that with a phone's ESN, anyway, but even most phone owners don't
> know their own phone's ESN, but they do tend to hand out their phone
> number to at least close colleagues.
>
> HEY PEOPLE WHO DESIGN USA PASS****TS: =A0PAY ATTENTION: =A0RFID in
> American pass****ts is great for terrorists who want to blow up
> Americans, since the bomb can detect American pass****ts nearby as
> a trigger. =A0WHAT THE HECK WERE YOU THINKING? =A0Bar codes, magnetic
> stripes, etc. that can't be remotely read are much more secure.
>
> How, technically, does it do this? =A0I can see where it might sense
> bluetooth devices, try to connect to them, and if it does, try to
> get the phone number. =A0That sounds like a really good plan (NOT)
> for the merchant: the way IN to the store (and probably OUT as well)
> is clogged with people fiddling with their phones, so anyone who
> really wants to go in to the store to BUY something has trouble
> getting around the jamup of people.
>
> Or can it snarf cell tower polling or incoming calls from the airwaves
> and your phone responding?

http://news.cnet.com/Advertising-seeps-into-the-cell-phone---page-2/2100-10=
39_3-6115617-2.html


A couple of years ago CNet observed, "For example, advertisers could
use location information to send SMS (Short Message Service) text
messages to cell phone subscribers traveling to a new city. The
messages could tout nearby restaurants or could include coupons to be
used at certain locations. " How do they get such data? The business
uses a programmed robot to monitor  the exchange of passing cell phone
handshakes to a nearby cell tower. They can then automatically
initiate a SMS to your passing phone.