Thread: Rioting in London helped out by BBM?

BlackBerry UK has decided to go public with their stand on this weekends rioting in London. The above tweet was sent in response to the news that BlackBerry devices have allegedly been used to help coordinate the rioting.

According to multiple reports, rioters took to BlackBerry Messenger and it's incredibly popular PIN-to-PIN messaging to ensure encryption and security of messages exchanged. BlackBerry UK is apparently going to help out the police and government by in any way [they] can to hopefully bring the people that initiated these riots to justice.

Unlike the riots in Vancouver a couple of months ago when Facebook, a public site, was primarily used, these recent riots have raised a question of privacy, due to the nature of their encrypted communication, in terms of what amount of personal information government agencies have access to when events like these develop.

RIM's BlackBerry Messenger service has for years been known as a secure, encrypted way of communicating. One of the main reasons people love it is its privacy.

Now we don't know exactly how Research In Motion will help out authorities but if RIM does open it's BBM "books" per say of a whole city or major area to try to filter out information or dig through people's BBM's to gather info about the rioting and its beginning, many people might have issues with that.

Could RIM also wait until there are suspects, people of interest; etc to then lend its help with their BlackBerry devices? Of course, and most likely that might end up being the case.

The issue always ends up being privacy though. No one likes to know that government or big brother could at any point in time look at any personal conversations you may be having. Some take the reason of the intrusion into account while others believe no one should be allowed to look at anything personal regardless of whatever it may be. No matter the topic of the conversation, privacy has always and will always be a huge issue.

So now what do you think? In the issue of government and your BlackBerry, how far is too far in your opinion? Let us know

It seems British authorities will shutdown BBM in the case of escalating protests, more and more as what the previous Egyptian Authorities have done during 25 January revolution !

Originally Posted by Ganayni94

It seems British authorities will shutdown BBM in the case of escalating protests, more and more as what the previous Egyptian Authorities have done during 25 January revolution !

and thats what should be done. if they feel that a form of communication is aiding in the riots, then shut it down. do not open bbm to the government. of course, they probably already monitor key words.

Originally Posted by ghostryder12

and thats what should be done. if they feel that a form of communication is aiding in the riots, then shut it down. do not open bbm to the government. of course, they probably already monitor key words.

Yes I agree with you.
Here in Egypt when the protests were escalated,The ex-government had shutdown the Internet also.