Behind the battle over BlackBerry
http://www.thestar.com/business/companies/rim/article/846878
Why are Saudi Arabia and others threatening to ban the BlackBerry?
Madhavi Acharya-Tom Yew Business Reporter
Q: Why are governments in Saudi Arabia, India, the United Arab Emirates and other countries threatening to ban BlackBerry services?
A: They’re concerned because they have no way to monitor the flow of email and text messages transmitted via BlackBerry because the data is encrypted. They have no way of knowing what their citizens are talking about or to whom, and threatened to ban the services unless RIM provided them with full access to that information.
There are legitimate concerns about terrorism and national security. But, says independent technology analyst Carmi Levy, “from a human rights perspective, it’s clear that it’s also a way of limiting free speech.”
Q: What makes BlackBerry different from Apple’s iPhone or other smartphones?
A: All text and email messages sent via BlackBerry are encrypted from the moment you begin to compose them, through transmission, to the moment when they are received. If someone tries to intercept the message mid-stream, it’s jibberish. Other smartphones don’t have end-to-end encryption, so authorities and others are more easily able to monitor messages.
Another key difference: BlackBerry traffic gets routed through RIM’s own network operations centres, or NOC, one located in Waterloo and another in the U.K. Data sent via other smartphones travels over the Internet.
Q: Can RIM refuse to negotiate with these governments?
A: RIM needs these emerging markets such as Saudi Arabia, India, China, and Indonesia very badly. Its market share in North America is more mature and faces greater competition from iPhones, as well as Google’s Android-powered devices. As a publicly-traded company, its mandate is to grow and make a profit for its shareholders.
Q: What are the encryption codes or keys, and who has access to them?
A: Research in Motion has said previously that it can’t meet requests for encryption keys – to decipher the stream of BlackBerry communication mid-stream – because nobody, itself included, has access to them. That claim raises eyebrows among technology experts.
“I’m sure they have incredibly tight controls around it, but the truth of the matter is the company invented this infrastructure. It would be naïve to think they can’t lift the covers and see what’s going on underneath if they really need to,” Levy says.
Adds Joe Compeau, an expert on information systems at the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario: “I do find it hard to believe that RIM’s encryption is foolproof and they don’t have access to it and neither does anybody else.”
Q: BlackBerry users can communicate in various ways, including email and RIM”s instant-messaging service, called Messenger. Which ones are governments most concerned about?
A: It depends on the country. Saudi Arabia is reportedly focusing on Messenger; it cites security concerns but many observers believe the real reason is that instant messaging is often used by young people who are forbidden to contact each other in other ways. India, however, is reported to be concerned about both Messenger and email.
From a technological point of view it makes little difference. Both use RIM’s end-to-end encryption.
Q: What has RIM agreed to do in Saudi Arabia?
A: RIM refuses to spell this out. According to some reports, the company has agreed to provide a secure facility with equipment that allow monitoring of Saudi-specific data traffic. Other reports say RIM has turned over user information and encryption codes.
Whatever the method, the bottom line is clear, says Levy. “Saudi officials will be able to monitor traffic in real time in an unencrypted way. That is what the government insisted on and there really was very little room for compromise.”
Q: Have other countries raised similar security issues?
A: RIM’s entry into the Chinese market in 2007 was delayed by about a year while it negotiated with government officials on how they could monitor traffic. That was also the case in Russia. But the negotiations didn’t get this kind of publicity.
The U.S. government raised its own security concerns, which were later resolved, when newly-elected president Barack Obama insisted on keeping his BlackBerry to communicate with high-level staff and other world leaders
.
Q: Can governments here monitor BlackBerry messages? What’s the difference?
A: In a nutshell, law enforcement authorities in Canada and the U.S., need to go to court to ask for a subpoena to force RIM or other telecommunications carriers to provide access to encrypted data so they can monitor suspicious or illegal activity.
Security agencies in Saudi Arabia or other countries won’t need to get a subpoena. They will simply monitor whoever they want. Our government has the right to look into our private affairs, but we have certain checks and balances – freedom of speech and due process – that keep that power in check.
Q: Why should this issue matter to Canadians?
A: Two reasons: privacy and human rights. Most people who send an email assume that nobody else can read it, but experts say that’s a fallacy. “It’s an illusion that we have perfect security on these things,” Compeau said.
Q: RIM’s billion-dollar technology has made it a Canadian icon, but is it reasonable to expect it to take a stand on murky human rights issues around the globe?
A: Says Levy: “We need to decide as a country whether our technology icon should be subject to the same human rights standards we hold ourselves to as Canadians or if we should allow them to simply pursue the profit motive.”
http://www.thestar.com/business/companies/rim/article/846878
Why are Saudi Arabia and others threatening to ban the BlackBerry?
Madhavi Acharya-Tom Yew Business Reporter
Q: Why are governments in Saudi Arabia, India, the United Arab Emirates and other countries threatening to ban BlackBerry services?
A: They’re concerned because they have no way to monitor the flow of email and text messages transmitted via BlackBerry because the data is encrypted. They have no way of knowing what their citizens are talking about or to whom, and threatened to ban the services unless RIM provided them with full access to that information.
There are legitimate concerns about terrorism and national security. But, says independent technology analyst Carmi Levy, “from a human rights perspective, it’s clear that it’s also a way of limiting free speech.”
Q: What makes BlackBerry different from Apple’s iPhone or other smartphones?
A: All text and email messages sent via BlackBerry are encrypted from the moment you begin to compose them, through transmission, to the moment when they are received. If someone tries to intercept the message mid-stream, it’s jibberish. Other smartphones don’t have end-to-end encryption, so authorities and others are more easily able to monitor messages.
Another key difference: BlackBerry traffic gets routed through RIM’s own network operations centres, or NOC, one located in Waterloo and another in the U.K. Data sent via other smartphones travels over the Internet.
Q: Can RIM refuse to negotiate with these governments?
A: RIM needs these emerging markets such as Saudi Arabia, India, China, and Indonesia very badly. Its market share in North America is more mature and faces greater competition from iPhones, as well as Google’s Android-powered devices. As a publicly-traded company, its mandate is to grow and make a profit for its shareholders.
Q: What are the encryption codes or keys, and who has access to them?
A: Research in Motion has said previously that it can’t meet requests for encryption keys – to decipher the stream of BlackBerry communication mid-stream – because nobody, itself included, has access to them. That claim raises eyebrows among technology experts.
“I’m sure they have incredibly tight controls around it, but the truth of the matter is the company invented this infrastructure. It would be naïve to think they can’t lift the covers and see what’s going on underneath if they really need to,” Levy says.
Adds Joe Compeau, an expert on information systems at the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario: “I do find it hard to believe that RIM’s encryption is foolproof and they don’t have access to it and neither does anybody else.”
Q: BlackBerry users can communicate in various ways, including email and RIM”s instant-messaging service, called Messenger. Which ones are governments most concerned about?
A: It depends on the country. Saudi Arabia is reportedly focusing on Messenger; it cites security concerns but many observers believe the real reason is that instant messaging is often used by young people who are forbidden to contact each other in other ways. India, however, is reported to be concerned about both Messenger and email.
From a technological point of view it makes little difference. Both use RIM’s end-to-end encryption.
Q: What has RIM agreed to do in Saudi Arabia?
A: RIM refuses to spell this out. According to some reports, the company has agreed to provide a secure facility with equipment that allow monitoring of Saudi-specific data traffic. Other reports say RIM has turned over user information and encryption codes.
Whatever the method, the bottom line is clear, says Levy. “Saudi officials will be able to monitor traffic in real time in an unencrypted way. That is what the government insisted on and there really was very little room for compromise.”
Q: Have other countries raised similar security issues?
A: RIM’s entry into the Chinese market in 2007 was delayed by about a year while it negotiated with government officials on how they could monitor traffic. That was also the case in Russia. But the negotiations didn’t get this kind of publicity.
The U.S. government raised its own security concerns, which were later resolved, when newly-elected president Barack Obama insisted on keeping his BlackBerry to communicate with high-level staff and other world leaders
.
Q: Can governments here monitor BlackBerry messages? What’s the difference?
A: In a nutshell, law enforcement authorities in Canada and the U.S., need to go to court to ask for a subpoena to force RIM or other telecommunications carriers to provide access to encrypted data so they can monitor suspicious or illegal activity.
Security agencies in Saudi Arabia or other countries won’t need to get a subpoena. They will simply monitor whoever they want. Our government has the right to look into our private affairs, but we have certain checks and balances – freedom of speech and due process – that keep that power in check.
Q: Why should this issue matter to Canadians?
A: Two reasons: privacy and human rights. Most people who send an email assume that nobody else can read it, but experts say that’s a fallacy. “It’s an illusion that we have perfect security on these things,” Compeau said.
Q: RIM’s billion-dollar technology has made it a Canadian icon, but is it reasonable to expect it to take a stand on murky human rights issues around the globe?
A: Says Levy: “We need to decide as a country whether our technology icon should be subject to the same human rights standards we hold ourselves to as Canadians or if we should allow them to simply pursue the profit motive.”