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Closed Coke Cans Not Allowed At Air Force Base Due To GPS Threat
from the gotta-be-careful dept
You may recall the story about Coca-Cola's bizarre summer promotion where they're sticking soda can sized (and weighted) GPS-enabled phones into Coke cans. The idea is that the winners of the promotion opens the can and discovers the phone. They press the big red button and are immediately connected to prize central, who will use the phone to determine the caller's location and send out the prize brigade who will show up with your winning car or stereo or whatever. There's just one problem. Sneaking a device that transmits your location into a secure military base is a big no-no. So, security folks at a variety of Air Force bases have now been instructed to open up all entering Coca-Cola cans heading into conference rooms in secure areas. Coca-Cola execs point out that this is a bit silly. The so-called sodaphones don't transmit or receive a damn thing until someone pushes the red button. However, Air Force officials just want to be safe, and they promise that winning cans will be returned to their owners after they've left secure areas. Well, cross off the possibility of the US military opening fire on the Coca-Cola prize patrol.
Reader Comments
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No Subject Given
The military is a HUGE coke customer -- if coke execs are calling them (or their concerns) silly, they should worry about the next contract negotiation...
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it's the indirect problems
Sorry, Mike, but I rather agree with the military on this one. If it's a secure meeting, the possibility of transmitting any of the dialogue over the Big Red Phone is also something that should be avoided.
Yeah, so some guard pops the can for you on the way in. If it's a transmitter (ie cel phone) then you must check it. Cool. No problem there, and probably standard procedure. Just because it was a coke can doesn't mean it's an exempt voice transmitter.
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No Subject Given
Same thing that happened to Furbys back when they were popular. They were banned from secure areas because they were a recording device. IMHO a secure area is a secure area. No exceptions for a silly promotion.
-Charles W.
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Is this verified?
This smacks of an urban legand...(and I'm too lazy to check it myself)
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Soda GPS
No urban ledgend - The Fort Knox paper ran a story on it last week. The odds are against anyone actually winning anything but it was a concern.
Having the prize patrol show up at a place with a "cover" would be a problem. I worked at a place that "didn't exist" - if coke had showed up there with a camera, a bunch of people might have some explainin' to do.
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Re: Soda GPS
Its real ( see link above )
I'll bet Pepsi just loves this ...
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Re: Soda GPS
I bet Coke loves it even more - it's great free publicity.
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Coke Patrol, USA
My thoughts are this- you obviously have never been in the military based on your comments concerning the Coke can sweepstakes. I have worked for the same Air Force base for more than eleven years as a senior security advisor and IT specialist. First off, you have no idea what the reprocussions can amount to in regard to GPS related systems... I more than certainly do!!
I may be a young woman, but I'm not stupid. Do we want to potentially open ourselves within Los Angeles to the possibility of terrorist groups knowing our exact GPS location??? Get wise dude, and more importantly, get educated. I can tell you that these threats have been recently exposed within my local facility equipped with detailed maps, and more ammunition than you could imagine.
We need to back away from being paranoid... and simply be smart. FYI- the Coke can giveaway appeared on my very base as an unauthorized item and as an advisory to keep people like me alive. I will stand behind my military, in fact the very base I work on implemented GPS within the U.S., in saying... any threat deterred is a life saved. If you choose not to believe that, move to Iraq or Afghanistan, and take up resisdence there... enough said.
Try to keep an open mind... and be good to your country, not your enemies- KEH
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