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RIM Helping UK Police Track Down Rioters
jfruhlinger writes "Protests against a police shooting in the poor London neighborhood of Tottenham escalated into rioting and looting this past weekend. Initial reports have it that the activity was coordinated not by Twitter or Facebook but by the relatively old-tech method of BlackBerry messaging. Now the official Twitter account of RIM's UK division has announced that it is 'engaged with the authorities to assist in any way we can,' which presumably means that it's handing over messages sent by rioters. Is BlackBerry being a responsible part of British society, or is it overstepping its bounds?"
This looks like the Mob trying to intimidate the Government and the police because one of its capos got shot. If this is in fact the current line, RIM is obliged to co-operate. It is probably nothing whatsoever to do with poor people opposing Government cuts.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
I just love this! It was a tweet by RIM.
This is all that it says.
"We feel for those impacted by the riots in London. We have engaged with the authorities to assist in any way we can."
This can mean anything from providing extra coverage of the area so any police using blackberries get coverage or buying people free beagles?
Wow what a jump to conclusions this has inspired.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
I would suggest you actually read that contract before you go making claims that RIM is changing it. From the BBSLA:
(i) You and Your Authorised Users will cooperate with RIM and provide information requested by RIM to assist RIM in investigating or determining whether there has been a breach of this Agreement and provide RIM or a RIM appointed independent auditor with access to the premises and computers where the RIM Products, Services or Software are or have been used and any associated records. You hereby authorise RIM to cooperate with: (i) law enforcement authorities in the investigation of suspected criminal violations; (ii) third parties in investigating acts in violation of this Agreement; and (iii) system administrators at Internet service providers, networks or computing facilities in order to enforce this Agreement. Such cooperation may include RIM disclosing Your or Your Authorised Users' username, IP address, or other personal information.
If a police officer was shot, that means somebody had a gun who shouldn't have. Given that Mark Duggan was the one who was shot, it would seem logical that he was the one doing the shooting in the first place. So why, precisely, do you have such a problem with any of the above?
Because last night the British media were reporting that the bullet that hit the policeman was probably fired by the police?
I doubt you'll find many people in the UK who believe the police story on any shooting after the Brazilian Electrician fiasco of a few years ago where pretty much every aspect of the initial police story turned out to be wrong.
I've got two friends who are now homeless and have lost everything apart from the clothes on their backs and their mobile phones after scum broke into a jewellers in Tottenham on Saturday night and then proceeded to torch the place. They lived above the shops and barely got out with their lives. For twenty minutes the Police were nowhere in site. My friends were posting on Facebook as the riots got closer and were frightened that they'd have to arm themselves to protect against a home invasion and then their worse fear happened - fires were started.
These kids aren't making a statement, they aren't fighting the system, they aren't protesting against jack shit. They just want to run riot, smash shit up and set fire to stuff whilst getting away with stealing as much as possible.
I'm quite happy the RIM are helping. Hopefully Skype, MSN, etc. will be on the case too. I'd send in the army with tear gas and rubber bullets (to start with) if I was in charge.
If an officer of the law breaks the law then they should be punished by the law. The whole point of the IPCC (Independant Police Complaints Commision) is to work out what the facts are and most of the semi/uninformed speculation is not helping. Deserved/accident/trigger happy cop it doesn't matter. Let the IPCC find out what happened otherwise we're just going on hearsay and rumour.
Torching cars and stealing TVs is not the solution. The shooting is just being used as an excuse by the rioters and the unhelpful people encouraging them. The rioters don't give a damn about the guy who was shot they just want to riot and loot. This sort of action will bring out a few more people to riot but the rest of the country will be calling for their heads.
The people worst affected by all this are blameless people who made the mistake of owning shops on a high street or renting apartments above shops or similar things. I mean who didn't see that coming? You live on a high street somewhere and then your house gets torched. It's obvious isn't it? People might think twice in the future before making such an obvious mistake again. That's not going to help anybody.
People like Ken Livingstone also won't be helping. Taking of advantage of the situation for a bit of inflammatory politics is the action of an inconsiderate jerk (First class Hons. University of Git). Hopefully the people who weren't out there upgrading their home cinemas or using other people's cars to keep warm will recognise this and sort him out next year.
Shame about the opportunistic cretins in Birmingham. Hope that gets stamped out.
The only people who are going to benefit from all this are the glaziers.
Just think: 50% of all people are below average.