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Latest update: 11/08/2011
- London - mobile phones - UK riots
BlackBerry silent amid calls to suspend messaging
Blackberry’s encrypted messaging system is hugely popular with British teenagers; it is also popular with the rioters who laid waste to areas of London over the weekend. But calls for the service to be suspended are likely to fall on deaf ears.
BlackBerry makers Research in Motion (RIM) remained tight-lipped Wednesday after calls for its free messaging service to be suspended because it was being used by rioters in London.
On Tuesday David Lammy, Labour Member of Parliament for the Tottenham area of London where the rioting began, blamed BlackBerry’s instant messaging service (BBM) for helping the mobs that brought carnage to the streets of the English capital.
Lammy tweeted on Tuesday: “Immediate action needed. LDNers cannot have another evening like last night tonight. BBM clearly helping rioters outfox Police. Suspend it.”
BlackBerry responded Tuesday with its own tweet: “We feel for those impacted by the riots in London. We have engaged with the authorities to assist in any way we can.”
On Wednesday it remained unclear exactly how far that co-operation would go.
Data security a popular feature
BBM is a closed and encrypted communications system. Users have to share a PIN number to be on each others’ lists, while unlimited single or group messages and chats can be sent instantly and free of charge.
FRANCE 24’s Digital Media Editor Eric Olander said the major attraction of the BlackBerry to London’s rioters is that its low-end models are among the most affordable on the market.
“It costs much less than an iPhone of any of the Android devices,” he said, adding that the BBM system was “free to use and encrypted, meaning the messages cannot be monitored by the police.”
For Wired.co.uk’s Olivia Solon, BBM was the rioter’s communications tool of choice purely because as a free and unlimited mobile platform, it holds a huge appeal to young users.
“BBM is free, instant and extremely popular … and it is hard for the authorities to monitor” Solon told FRANCE 24. “But I don't believe this is the reason why rioters are using it - they are using it because that is just how they communicate.”
Recent research by UK regulator Ofcom shows that more than a third of British teenagers own a BlackBerry device.
BlackBerry’s conundrum
The high security of BBM is one of the core elements of the BlackBerry business model, and the devices are popular with both business and government users wary of data theft and espionage.
While BlackBerry said it was cooperating with police, it has to take into account more than 45 million BBM users worldwide – including US President Barack Obama – who value the privacy it offers against platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
RIM has so far declined to elaborate on how far they would go to “assist with the authorities”.
Solon said that in the UK, police could apply to Blackberry under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) – but were restricted to “individual customer's information and cannot trawl through all of their records looking for search terms.”
“Most of the time, and particularly with business customers, customer privacy is more prescient than state security,” she added. “It's only at times of major unrest that it may be important to breach that privacy.”
It is not the first time BlackBerry’s BBM has fallen foul of nervous politicians and governments.
Following the 2010 Mumbai attacks, the Indian government threatened to block BBM for fear it was being used by terrorist cells, while the UAE and Saudi Arabia, wanting to block dissent, also (unsuccessfully) demanded official access to the service.
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Blackberry use
Parliament - Close them down by law - simple!
WHAT'S NEXT?
I Ask... What's Next?
The point is, if they force RIM to break the security, or if the force them to stop using the encryption... what's next?
We say goodbyt to https because it might have beeen used in actions where money laundry is involved?
We put an end to the secrecy of our votes in the elections, because we shoud know who is supporting the wrong people?
I don't know.
It's ok for the people to be affraid, but it plain stupidity when fear makes the people cry out loud for the restruction of their liberties.
Sure BBM is used and will be used for delictive activities, as many time is the legislative power, nylon stockings in the head, guns (and as i recall, they still sell them in the shops...), medicinal alcohol for making molotv bombs... anyway, everything can be used for good or bad. Technology is not to blame, the ones to make the use of it are.
Thanks. And Sorry for my english. It's not my native tongue.
From Argentina, take care.