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Dubai's Police Chief Calls BlackBerry a Spy Tool
crimeandpunishment writes "Does the battle over the Blackberry ban in the United Arab Emirates have its roots in a spy story? Dubai's police chief says concern over espionage (specifically, by the US and Israel) led to the decision to limit BlackBerry services. The UAE says it will block BlackBerry email, messaging, and web services on October 11th unless it gets access to encrypted data. Comments by Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim are often seen as reflecting the views of Dubai's leadership, and would appear to indicate a very hard line in talks with Research in Motion."
Another non-blackberry user here, but from what I understand, what they provide is something like PGP on top of mail; your message gets encrypted using a private/public key system such that it's not vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks, which SSL/TLS (https/imaps) can be susceptible to.
Why is it so weird when other countries in turn demand the same kind of access? If US wants to promote privacy of citizens, at least start doing it yourself first.
Just because our country does it, doesn't mean that we don't oppose it. We oppose violation of privacy in all its forms, including our own government's.
Look where all this talking got us, baby.
TEMPEST at a few hundred feet is pretty remarkable... you think it can be done in a satellite 50 miles high? Plus there's considerations such as the van allen belt and the ionosphere acting upon wavelength propagation, never mind the noise and attenuation distortions wielded upon an 2GHz+ clock rate of a typical system bus, or voltage balanced and shielded video cables at such great distances.
Now if you're thinking about satellite sweeping for wifi or cellular then it would be almost a given and certainly has a precedent - but otherwise I'm unconvinced that something could filter though a trashheap of digital noise from that distance.
I said no... but I missed and it came out yes.
RIM has made it known that they are giving the encryption keys to BlackBerry communications to various governments - ergo, it makes some sense for Saudi Arabia to say that Saudi businessmen are not allowed to use them despite the convenience, due to risk of business espionage by foreign governments.
the blackberry connects to RIM and RIM connects to your email, or if you are corporate the blackberry points to the corporate BES server, the link between the handset and RIM or between the handset and your company's BES server is heavilly encrypted, and in the case of BES servers even RIM cannot access the data, only your company's security staff and other authorized users, making it suitable for communicating confidential and trade secret information that a regular smartphone should not be handling. BES is also able to remotely control security settings and initiate a secure wipe.
Snowden and Manning are heroes.
"let's get this straight right off: there never existed, does not exist, and never will exist a government that does not spy on its citizens
do you understand that? it's called law enforcement."
FAIL.
Law enforcement doesn't need to spy and should not spy without reason and a court order. It is spying and watching as a matter of course,, prying into everyone's lives for no reason, that is the issue here.
And for fuck's sake lay off the "you just try that in iran and china!" line, it makes you look like a moron. Being better than some of the most repressive regimes on the planet isn't enough for me, is it enough for you?
Dubai's police chief says concern over espionage (specifically, by the US and Israel) led to the decision to limit BlackBerry services.
Well of course he would say that. Despotic Arab regimes have always used the US and Israel as an excuse for their own totalitarianism and oppression of minorities.
The article details the real reason, as if it wasn't obvious:
Tamim told a conference on information technology that the proposed BlackBerry curbs are also "meant to control false rumors and defamation of public figures due to the absence of surveillance,"
Translation: It promotes freedom of expression, and limits the government's ability to control its people, which frightens the shit out of Arab dictators.
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God does not want people to breach state mandated monopolies? What next - God supported Stalin?
Artists made a living for millennia before copyright law.
Many professional programmers choose to make limited use of copyright protection (open source licences) or even waive them altogether (stuff like SQLite that is public domain).
As the GP pointed out, Israeli intelligence actually murdered people in Dubai. Given that, they do have a reason to be a bit wary of the risks posed.
OF course it is a nasty feudal dictatorship, with a modern gloss to hide its underlying backwardness, but it still has genuine enimies.
http://www.planetrulers.com/current-dictators/
authoritarian regimes/dictatorships
Algeria - Abdelaziz Bouteflika, President of Algeria
Angola - Mr. Jose Eduardo dos Santos, President of Angola
Azerbaijan - Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan
Belarus - Aleksandr Lukashenko, President of Belarus
Bhutan - Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck, King of Bhutan
Brunei - Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah
Cambodia - His Majesty King Norodom Sihamoni, King of Cambodia
Cameroon - Paul Biya, President of Cameroon
Chad - Idriss Deby, President of Chad
China - Hu Jintao, President of China
Congo, Dem. Rep. of - Isidore Mvouba, Prime Minister of Congo
Côte d'Ivoire - Laurent Gbagbo, President of Cote d'Ivoire
Cuba - Raul Castro, President of Cuba
Egypt - Hosny Mubarak, President of Egypt
Equatorial Guinea - OBIANG NGUEMA MBASOGO, President
Eritrea - Isaias Afwerki, President of Eritrea
Guinea - Lansana Conte, President of Guinea
Iran - Mahmoud Ahmadi Nejad, President of Iran
Iraq - Jalal Talabani, President of Iraq
Kazakhstan - Nursultan Nazarbaev, President of Kazakhstan
Laos - Lieutenant General Choummaly Sayasone, President
Libya - Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, Leader of Libya
Myanmar (Burma) - Soe Win, Prime Minister of Myanmar (Burma)
North Korea - Kim Jong-il, President of North Korea
Oman - Qaboos bin Said Al-Said, Prime Minister of Oman
Pakistan - Pervez Musharraf, President of Pakistan
Qatar - Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al-Thani
Russia - Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev, President of Russia
Rwanda - Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda
Saudi Arabia - King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz, King of Saudi Arabia
Somalia - Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, President of Somalia
Sudan - Omar H.A. Al-Bashier, President of Sudan
Swaziland - Mswati III, King of Swaziland
Syria - Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria
Tajikistan - Emomalii Rahmon, President of Tadjikistan
Thailand - Surayut Chulanon, Royal Prime Minister of Thailand
Togo - Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe, President of Togo
Tunisia - Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, President of Tunisia
Turkmenistan - Gurbanguly BERDIMUHAMEDOW, President of Turkmenistan
United Arab Emirates - Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan
Uzbekistan - Islam Abdughanievich Karimov, President of Uzbekistan
Vietnam - Nong Duc Manh, President of Vietnam
Zimbabwe - Robert (Gabriel) Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe
Look to Youtube, a certain country said "pull this video, pull that, setup office here, pay taxes". You know what Youtube did? Ignored! Don't they lose money/marketshare? Of course they do.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but that is simply not true. Try surfing YouTube in Germany, for instance. Lots and LOTS of videos are pulled or "not available in your country", they do pay out some local media conglomerates, and, guess what, Google has offices here too.