

BlackBerry gives Indian spooks BBM and BIS access - dan1234
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/07/11/blackberry_gives_indian_spooks_access/

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linohh
Indian access to BIS is nothing new. They've been doing that since at least
2011. This is BlackBerry Internet Service, where the mail infrastructure is
partially controlled by RIM. As far as I understand the BlackBerry
Infrastructure, RIM can't give access to BES (Enterprise) Servers.

Even if you're not part of an enterprise, you can run a BlackBerry Enterprise
Server Express at home or in a datacenter. With your own encryption keys
protecting communication between the phone and your server. In order to grant
access to the government, RIM would have to steal your key. Possible, but
unlikely. Security is one of the few reasons why RIM still ships phones.

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rescripting
Giving the Indian government access to BBM and BIS was a requirement to
operate as a messaging service in India. People shouldn't be upset with
BlackBerry for complying with regulations; outrage should be directed at the
government for creating and enforcing these regulations.

If the US government decreed 'Phones made with white plastic are no longer
allowed, they can not be sold in our country', would you get upset with Apple
for only selling black iPhones in the US?

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MarcParadise
Much was made of this when it was first announced a few months ago, but in
reality it just puts India on par with most other major governments. When
proper procedure is followed, BIS communication records can be obtained - in
the same way a carrier hands over records in the US when a warrant is served.
(Or without a warrant, as the case may be...)

BlackBerry still can't provide access to BES communication -- and this what
India was actually pushing hard for.

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goombastic
These are governments that cater exclusively to politicians. 30% of said
politicians are hardened criminals. One should expect arbitrary arrests for
private opinion.

~~~
conductor
"Politics and crime -- they're the same thing."

\- Michael Corleone

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amirmc
It's not clear to me that the _content_ of BBM messages is available. The
article(s) only mention getting access to delivery reports (i.e
delivered/read).

If people are using non-encrypted mail, then that was already 'insecure' so
this news report doesn't indicate anything new in that respect (other than
getting access via BlackBerry).

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mchusma
Interesting that right when the tide might be moving towards privacy, giving
BlackBerry an opportunity, they break their security.

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nsns
...which means they now comply like all other mobile providers.

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spook_kook
While Snowden's disclosures were a bit creepy my thoughts were: at least _we_
(USA + NATO) have the homefield advantage on this

The I'm genuinely scared about is what about the Russian, Chinese, Iranian (?)
intelligence services would do with information like that

