Slashdot Mirror
RIM Co-CEO Cries 'No Fair' On Security Question
bulled writes "When asked about letting governments in Asia and the Middle East into the 'secure' message service used by their BlackBerry devices, Mike Lazaridis, the co-chief executive of RIM, walked out of the interview and said, 'We've dealt with this, the question is no fair.' By 'dealt with,' we can only assume he meant: 'been paid handsomely to let governments read what they wish.'"
It's your right to walk away from an interview at any time. There's not even anything wrong with it unless you've specifically promised to answer all questions.
However, this was still pretty rude and even silly of him. Some choice information-poor statements would probably have been much more effective than this - now it's been on the Slashdot and more importantly on the BBC News front page. He could just as well have said "we're doing something shady you don't like."
I think we can safely assume that Blackberry is about as secure as a wet paper bag in countries where the device has become "commercially successful" and the government is less than interested in maintaining privacy.
Mentioining "national security" at the end of the video is a clear sign that RIM has well and truly given in on their claims of absolute security for the sake of maintaining a moderately-successful business.
Never trust the security of communications where the keys are being handled by someone outside your organisation.
All these comments about this are little bit childish.. Like "By dealt with, we can only assume he meant 'been paid handsomely to let governments read what they wish.'" what the hell, you probably know fully well what he means.
Look, there's nothing Blackberry can do about it and it's not their job. It's not like they would be able to fight it if USA was the same. It's the people in general who will need to deal with their governments, not some single random company that is just selling products for the market. Stop being childish and stop these immature comments. If you want, YOU go change those governments minds.
You can't advertise a service or a device as being secure, and then sell the keys to the locks to the highest bidder. Fuck RIM. I hope they burn. My wife wanted a blackberry on this last go round of upgrades. Nope.
Well, sure. You have the right to walk away anytime. You have the right to walk out of class, out of work; unless you're in prison or the military, you always have the right to walk away.
But how can he not anticipate this question? Its been the number 1 question of RIM for the last 24 months, and he thinks its *unfair* he was asked about it?
He's either naive or an idiot. In either case, he was unprepared for an interview if he wasn't ready to talk about RIM's #1 issue.
If I was a major shareholder, he wouldn't impress me.
The RIM CEO called an end to an interview when he realized (after a minute and a half) that he was just being ambushed with a combative line of questioning. The interviewer had no interest in him answering the questions, he just wanted to make the CEO look bad in order to get ratings. This is, unfortunately or fortunately, rather common in british television. But in this case, it does seem genuinely unfair.
The interviewer knows that governments demand access to people's communications. All American telcos give call logs and e-mail histories pretty regularly to the government. Same with British ones. In this case, *we* don't trust the Saudi's with our communications, yet we somehow trust the US government with them.
Blackberry spent a lot of money building up a successful business in the middle east. Then they had to take their entire business offline while they added these backdoors for the government. When the king holds your entire business for ransom, with the requirement that you do for them what you do for every other government out there, you do it. Whining and complaining about RIM's "security problems" is just childish. And ambushing the CEO on film in an attack segment to make him look bad for something that he, and everyone else was forced to do, is definitely not fair.
The ______ Agenda
Look, there's nothing Blackberry can do about it and it's not their job.
They are providing a device which boasts security. It is precisely their job. Instead, they've provided the technology for a government to snoop on their citizens communications. Where do i begin with the issues there?
Look, there's nothing Blackberry can do about it and it's not their job. It's not like they would be able to fight it if USA was the same. It's the people in general who will need to deal with their governments, not some single random company that is just selling products for the market. Stop being childish and stop these immature comments. If you want, YOU go change those governments minds.
Correct, it is not RIM's job to oppose shit governments. However, it IS RIM's job to tell you exactly what they are selling to you and this includes security implications. Failing to answer a simple question doesn't bode well on that front.
"Welcome to our world. We are the wasted youth. And we are the future too." Yes, I know these are stupid lyrics.
It's probably more fair to say, "They were given the choice to provided the technology for a government to snoop on their citizens communications, or suspend business in that governments jurisdiction." Sounds like chasing the dollar at the expense of their core competency to me.
Don't call me back. Give me a call back. Bye. So yeah. But bye our, well, but alright we are on a shirt this chill.
It's your right to walk away from an interview at any time.
True. However if you are the CEO of a major international corporation and you cannot handle a reasonable, politely asked question from a major international media organization you are in the wrong job.
whats not fair is RIM backdooring their product to appease third word oppressive regimes.
They didn't. Prove it or shut up.
Uh, yeah. They did.
Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.
Honestly, if you're angry because RIM, or Google, or Microsoft, or whoever isn't trying to stick it to every dictatorship, you're an idiot. If the US government goes and tries to say a dictator is being too mean (perhaps by killing them), they're the terrible World Police. But if RIM refuses to do the same thing, you get angry. You're an angry, fickle group of people.
RIM is Canadian. I'm Canadian. Canadians don't do the World Police thing. Canadians do the Constable Rescuing the Kitten thing. Now, in this case, RIM is rescuing the kitten, then selling it to the dodgy-looking restaurant on the corner. We Canadians don't like that.
Worse, by walking out on the BBC (the BBC!) they're acting impolitely. In Canada, acting impolitely results in terrible punishment.... Well actually, it mostly just results in frosty stares - we're too polite to actually punish someone. But those stares, man - we can stare frostier than just about anyone. Except the Russians. The Russians are pretty frosty starers. And the Swedes. Their stare is actually known as The Frost.
Mod down if you disagree.
That would be rude and unfair. As a Canadian, I'd much prefer to tell you to take a flying fuck at a rolling doughnut instead. I'd prefer it, but as a Canadian, I'm limited to suggesting that you kindly launch yourself toward that fallen dessert and embrace it with passion and vigour.
... And have a nice day!
Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.
RIM is Canadian. I'm Canadian. Canadians don't do the World Police thing.
Um. WW1. WW2. Korea. Cyprus. Golan. Bosnia. Kosovo. Somalia. Afghanistan. Haiti.
I can tell you're Canadian - you don't know shit about our history, or our current events. Most people here are WAY too focused on the US.
And you must be from Ontario: not even the ghost of a sense of humour.
Would you kindly launch yourself toward that fallen dessert and embrace it with passion and vigour?
... And have a nice day!
Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.