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Air Force BlackBerry Addicts to Lose Their Bluetooth Functionality

by Caleb Johnson on March 26, 2010 at 09:10 AM

A new security measure could leave many U.S. Air Force BlackBerry users grounded. According to Wired, Air Force officials recently announced changes to the service's cyber-security policy, which would effectively disable the Bluetooth functionality of most BlackBerrys. Forget sending or receiving pictures or videos; under this change, the only functional Bluetooth feature on enlisted men and women's smartphones would be the one that reads their Common Access Cards (personal government IDs used for computer and network security).

In order to realize this goal, military BlackBerrys will be automatically updated with a software patch. The user is technically able to decline this update, but the device will be shut off until it's updated. It may be a harsh move for BlackBerry addicts, but the crackdown is mostly to make sure that military personnel can send and receive e-mails without worrying about security. "Just as physical security measures at forward and stateside bases are constantly being improved to meet current threats, so also are cyber protection measures taken to protect DoD [Department of Defense] information," said Maj. Gen. Richard Webber, 24th Air Force commander, in an official statement.

It's good to be wary when the government limits access to technology like this. However, we'd rather know military information is secure, even if that means a soldier stationed overseas can't download pics of his buddy at a Dave Matthews concert. [From: Wired]

Tags: AirForce, ban, BlackBerry, bluetooth, cellphone, government, military, security, smartphone, smartphones

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