BlackBerry 10 Can BBM Anything You're Watching, Even Porn

redletterdave writes "The new BBM in BlackBerry 10 has the option to automatically share what music you're listening to as one's status update. As it turns out, this BBM feature in BlackBerry 10 can actually share anything you're listening to with your BBM network, including videos. Therefore, any videos viewed in the BlackBerry Z10 browser or media player will be displayed for all of one's BlackBerry contacts to see, even if you don't want your network to know you're watching certain videos."

Comments

Wow

[spike hay]

These guys really can't think anything through.

Re:Wow

[All_One_Mind]

The bigger WOW here is that this is even a story. The key phrase in the summary is: "HAS THE OPTION" as in it's an optional feature. You know. One that you can turn off or on. This is the same thing Netflix recently added, where it will post what you're watching if you turn the option on. Here's a novel idea, if you're watching porn on your blackberry, turn off sharing or never enable it to begin with.

Re:Wow

[CanEHdian]

and if you do, you better not be watching any movie "Ingenuity 13" of "AF Holdings" owns the copyright to... oh, wait... no really oh wait because there has been NOTHING on Slashdot yet re today's Prenda Law hearing.

Re:Wow

[sjames]

You stopped reading too soon. It HAS THE OPTION (as you say) to share what you're LISTENING to (they say) but in fact, will also share what you're looking at.

Re:Wow

[iced_773]

More accurately, you'll probably be fine because I13 and AFH are probably now more focused on pulling off some epic ass-covering.

Re:Wow

[dubbreak]

The bigger WOW here is that this is even a story.

Exactly. Thanks Dice for bringing slashdot down another notch. This is garbage.

Re:Wow

[wvmarle]

Honestly I wonder why people would want to turn this on to begin with. It's of no-ones business what I'm listening to, or whether I'm listening to anything at any time. And that has nothing to do with porn as such.

Re:Wow

[PPH]

From TFA:

that private users may want to toggle "off."

Implying that this feature is on by default. Bad idea. Such a feature should be off and very, very difficult to enable accidentally.

Re:Wow

[narcc]

Implying that this feature is on by default. Bad idea.

That would be a bad idea. Good thing that it's OFF by default.

The article and summary are ridiculous.

Re:Wow

[davester666]

I'm sure the RIAA will respond with a "No problem, that sounds just fine to us".

Re:Wow

[Dishevel]

Prenda is dead.

Re:Wow

[azalin]

why do I get the mental image of mr burns rubbing his hands and grinning?

Re:Wow

[Joce640k]

The bigger WOW here is that this is even a story. The key phrase in the summary is: "HAS THE OPTION" as in it's an optional feature. You know. One that you can turn off or on.

So....is it 'on' by default?

(wouldn't surprise me if it was)

Re:Wow

[Anonymous Coward]

What if a future update changed it to ON... ? There is a history of updates changing settings across the board. What about other programs changing it? Just having a setting that broadly does this concerns me.

Re:Wow

[stenvar]

"Share music" doesn't imply "share videos" or "share porn" to most people.

Re:Wow

[Anonymous Coward]

I know people who like to share what porn they are watching, I can't wait for one of them to forget to turn it off when they were listening to Bieber.

Re:Wow

[Anonymous Coward]

These guys really can't think anything through.

By "these guys" you mean the submitter and editor, right? Only BlackBerry users would know that BBM is short for BlackBerry Messaging without googling. Folks, PLEASE watch those acronyms! You shouldn't have to explain to a slashdotter what RAM or a GRB or LEO* are, but something that's germaine only to a single niche product with a tiny market share demands that the lazy submitter and lazy editor hit a few keys... come on, guys, it's three words. Typing them is a lot less work than having to google.

* For those who don't belong at slashdot, RAM is random access memory, a GRB is a gamma ray burst, and LEO is most definately not a cop, it's low Earth Orbit. Calling a policeman an LEO on slashdot is saying "that cop was REALLY high!"

Re:Wow

[gstoddart]

These guys really can't think anything through.

I think it's a problem with social media in general.

The assumption has become that what people really want to do is be able to share everything at all times. Many of us have no interest in that, and don't trust the companies involved.

I find it especially annoying when companies start a push to ramp up their use of social media in the office. I don't see it as enhancing business value in most cases, and then you mostly get pressured to waste your time making sure you have an updated profile. Woo, that really enhanced my productivity.

All of a sudden the new buzzword becomes something everybody 'must have', and then charge ahead with it without having any idea of what it leads to. Then organizations and vendors go slightly gaga and try to get in on that.

Setting a phone to tell your friends everything you do -- well, that's pretty stupid IMO. Updates like this should be something you have to explicitly do each time.

I don't even see this as a specific failing with BB -- because everybody seems to think the world can't live without social media.

I suspect it's a generational/hipster thing -- I suspect there's a lot of people who think that your phone should do this. But I don't get it personally.

Re:Wow

[Anonymous Coward]

The target market is probably teenagers and advertisers. To a lesser extent adult gossips.

Re:Wow

[Anonymous Coward]

You don't know what BBM means? It's in the dictionary.

http://business.financialpost.com/2012/09/13/rims-bbm-enters-collins-english-dictionary/?__lsa=d609-2fba

Re:Wow

[almechist]

The bigger WOW here is that this is even a story. The key phrase in the summary is: "HAS THE OPTION" as in it's an optional feature. You know. One that you can turn off or on. This is the same thing Netflix recently added, where it will post what you're watching if you turn the option on. Here's a novel idea, if you're watching porn on your blackberry, turn off sharing or never enable it to begin with.

Wait... Netflix has porn???

Re:Wow

[saveferrousoxide]

or just don't watch porn on the incredibly tiny screen...

Uh. Uh. Uh.

[rueger]

Even by the standards of the usual ROT13ifying overlords of slashdot, I gotta say... uh..????

Re:Uh. Uh. Uh.

[Anonymous Coward]

ROT13('uh')->'hu'

Fail

[Murdoch5]

Another great feature from Rim, not surprising after working for them. At the start of a development cycle, sit down, write down all the bad ideas and good ideas, put them in a hat and pick.

Last.fm

[GoJays]

It is an option, so you can turn it off. And if you really want to share what you are listening to, there are better options out there, such as Last.fm. Which keeps track of all your statistical information, recommends new bands, events, album releases and finds users who have similar tastes.

Re:Last.fm

[Anonymous Coward]

It is an option, so you can turn it off They should add the option to shock the user when they pick up the phone. You know, with an option to turn that feature off.

Re:Last.fm

[narcc]

It's off by default.

This is a non-story.

Re:Last.fm

[Anonymous Coward]

Until a future update (or another app) changes it when you aren't expecting it... which is ANYTIME for you. ;)

Re:Last.fm

[Anonymous Coward]

Also, this has been a feature of BBM for years. It became a story only because a Crackberry staffer found the option and turned it on, then surfed porn. The fact that it hasn't been a story for all these years only confirms that it has never been story-worthy.

Re:today's Prenda Law hearing

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, another case of the news coming late here. And I hear it was quite the hearing.

Obligatory Avenue Q.

[bmo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTJvdGcb7Fs

--
BMO

Who cares?

[GreyLurk]

I have yet to meet anyone who admits to having used BBM...

Re:Who cares?

[Barsteward]

you need to get out more

Re:Who cares?

[Barny]

Still don't know what it is, I can only assume it is 'Big Beautiful Men' (The counter of BBW).

In that case, uh, pass?

Re:Who cares?

[arth1]

Editors: When using TLAs in TFS, spell them out the first time. I would wager that most people here have never heard of BBM.

I guess the BB stands for BlackBerry, but the M? Music, Meeting, Messenger, Melody, Micropenis, Movies, Microcosmos, Multimedia...?
Who knows, and at this point, WGAS?

Re:Who cares?

[Anonymous Coward]

Monkey, Madonna, Manboobs, Macbeth, Mercury

this is fun!

Re:Who cares?

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you sure? BBM stands for Big Bowel Movement*. You never had one of those?

*lazy fucks, spell it out, dammit!

Ok, I understand privacy but

[theRunicBard]

There is no way you can't turn this off, and really, who watches porn on their phone? That just seems like a terrible life choice. Small screen, horrible data speeds, smudgy finger marks.

Re:Ok, I understand privacy but

[Greyfox]

Maybe if you have a blackberry you have those problems. The Iphone is awesome for porn! One-handed operation, wifi (who doesn't have wifi when they're watching porn anymore) and an awesome screen! I've... said too much, haven't I?

Re:Ok, I understand privacy but

[msauve]

"There is no way you can't turn this off"

Huh? That's a triple negative.

Do you mean "There's no way you can turn this on" or "There is a way you can turn this off" or "There is no way you can turn this on" or "There is a way you can't turn this on" or what are you trying to say?

Re:Ok, I understand privacy but

[GNUALMAFUERTE]

Well, yes you have said too much. From your post we know that you:

a) watch porn
b) watch porn on your phone
c) said porn is gay porn, seeing as you have an iphone and everything.

Re:Ok, I understand privacy but

[PPH]

I can't tell either. Is marketing gibberish left or right associative?

Re:Ok, I understand privacy but

[PPH]

The Iphone is awesome for porn!

And so the phrase "you're holding it wrong" is born.

One-handed operation,

Speak for yourself.

Re:Ok, I understand privacy but

[azalin]

Well this looks like a ... RIM job!

Re:Ok, I understand privacy but

[metamarmoset]

I think theRunicBard means, 'I do not accept that Blackberry has not included an option to disable automatic sharing'.

It's less confusing once you realise that he/she hasn't read TFA, TFS, or any previous comments ;)

Re:Ok, I understand privacy but

[mjwx]

really, who watches porn on their phone? That just seems like a terrible life choice. Small screen, horrible data speeds, smudgy finger marks.

Business travellers who cant afford prostitutes.

Re:Ok, I understand privacy but

[arth1]

There is no way you can't turn this off, and really, who watches porn on their phone?

The driver approaching you in the other lane.

Re:Ok, I understand privacy but

[arth1]

Huh? That's a triple negative.

No, it isn't. "Off" is not the same as "not on".
If you do not turn something on, it's not the same as if you turn it off. The former allows for it to be on afterwards; the latter does not.

Re:Ok, I understand privacy but

[c0lo]

really, who watches porn on their phone? That just seems like a terrible life choice. Small screen, horrible data speeds, smudgy finger marks.

Business travellers who cant afford prostitutes.

I can accept that. What baffles me: why this would need to be shared?

Re:Ok, I understand privacy but

[msauve]

You're as confused as the GP, claiming that if you turn something off, it can't be turned on afterwards.

You're also confusing state with action. Do or don't do, there is no try.

Re:Ok, I understand privacy but

[arth1]

You're as confused as the GP, claiming that if you turn something off, it can't be turned on afterwards.

Where did I claim that, exactly?

You're also confusing state with action. Do or don't do, there is no try.

That has no relevance to whether "off" (whether an action or a state) is a negation or not. Two offs don't equal one on, so it is not a negation.

Re:Ok, I understand privacy but

[Anonymous Coward]

Congratulations! You've arrived at the point of the summary!

VNC, anyone?

[ThorGod]

And I could also setup a VNC server and invite everyone I know to view it while I browse anything/everything.

But I don't...how is this a bad thing, again?

Re:hey BB users

[Anonymous Coward]

I've had better.

Is it turned on by default?

[Blaskowicz]

The article is written in a way that implies the feature is turned on when you get the phone.
Well it's still a problem, if you have unsuspecting users, and users who don't want to muck with settings. All people on slashdot know that these phones are computers but they are also marketed as just phones and importantly, many people will just finger-navigate their way to the music player or video player and play the files they put there with an USB cable or something.. Even knowledgeable people might do that, not willing to waste their time learning all the GUIs in their phones, or even changing the wallpaper etc.

Re:Is it turned on by default?

[narcc]

The article is written in a way that implies the feature is turned on when you get the phone.

Which it is not.

I even double-checked on my wife's phone as she hadn't yet setup BBM. It was off.

You must explicitly turn that feature on.

Re:Is it turned on by default?

[sp0tter]

for now anyway. I can see a future board meeting going something like this: "We are not seeing the market penetration we desire. The users must not be aware of our fabulous features. Turn everything on by default in the next update so they all see how awesome we really are. No I haven't done any usability research on potential impacts of this and I am sure the end users will simply throw their legs up and pollute their britches with joy" Not that I have much experiance with BBM honestly... this just seems like it always happens at some point.

RIM fucks the dog again

[Smerta]

Why? What's the point of this "feature"? Sounds like some ass-clown in marketing has a hard-on for social media.

Stories like this make me wonder why RIM is hurting so badly. Not.

In other news...

[therapyreject]

Things you post on Facebook can be seen by people! Oh the travesty! When you elect to turn on an option that shares the audio/video that you're listening/watching, and it does just that, why would anyone be surprised?

Just wait a few years

[michaelmalak]

Does anyone think their full Google search history, combined with partial browsing history, back to 2000, will not be publicly available to everyone a few years from now, either posted by hackers or as a for-profit venture?

For the non Blackberry owners, BBM means:

[Nyder]

Blackberry Messenger. I had to google it.

Re:For the non Blackberry owners, BBM means:

[Anonymous Coward]

Ahh, all this time I thought it was big bowel movement... somehow related to rim employment or jobs

Re:For the non Blackberry owners, BBM means:

[Anonymous Coward]

Damn, I thought it was Big Black Men.

Re:For the non Blackberry owners, BBM means:

[wvmarle]

RTFA is easier, it's mentioned there as well. But at least you do keep up a good /. tradition by not RTFA.

Re:For the non Blackberry owners, BBM means:

[dohzer]

And the submitter carried on their side of the tradition by failing to use the full version of an obscure acronym at least once in the summary.

Re:For the non Blackberry owners, BBM means:

[Mr. Firewall]

Yeah, I had to google it too.

And here I was trying to come up with a pun regarding the meaning of "BBM" in the gay subculture. Which, of course, leads inevitably to jokes about RIM.

Re:For the non Blackberry owners, BBM means:

[wvmarle]

And that is entirely true as well.

Re:For the non Blackberry owners, BBM means:

[wonkey_monkey]

rim employment or jobs

There's a conjunction that could use some clarifying punctuation.

Re:For the non Blackberry owners, BBM means:

[wonkey_monkey]

RTFA is easier

Rim Tony's Fruity Artechoke?

Re:For the non Blackberry owners, BBM means:

[JeanCroix]

So one can use BBM to announce to everyone that they're listening to BBM? How meta.

Re:For the non Blackberry owners, BBM means:

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

> Blackberry Messenger. I had to google it.

And now Google knows you probably download porn on your Blackberry.

Re:For the non Blackberry owners, BBM means:

[tlhIngan]

And the submitter carried on their side of the tradition by failing to use the full version of an obscure acronym at least once in the summary.

Technically, BBM isn't that obscure - I'm sure if you query upper management folks, they know what it means just fine. Even a startling number of the general public - it's been around for a LONG time. Prior to the iPhone it was fairly popular as well.

Heck, it was also one of the things that caused the UAE and India to force RIM (err.. Blackberry) to install servers in their country.

The only reason BBM might be obscure to technical folks are those who shutter themselves into their little tech world and do very little interaction with others.

Heck, the building maintenance guys were given Blackberries so head office to BBM them. They don't like it (they much prefer their radios), but even they know how to use it.

BlackBerry users watch porn?

[SpaghettiPattern]

Never suspected BlackBerry users to watch porn. Or do anything to lighten up a party for that matter.

Re:BlackBerry users watch porn?

[RightwingNutjob]

Yeah...watching porn on what's 9 times out of 10 a company-provided phone seems...unlikely.

Re:BlackBerry users watch porn?

[Lehk228]

that's what blackberry balance is for, keeping your work stuff at work and your personal stuff personal.

Re:BlackBerry users watch porn?

[azalin]

Do you really think it's much different than company provided laptops/desktops? With a device that's small enough to carry to a more "private office"? People watch images of scantly clad members of their target sex whenever they think they can get away with it.

Re:BlackBerry users watch porn?

[leuk_he]

User 1 is listening ... Queen, breaktrhough.
User 2 is listening Justin Bieber.
User 3 Is currrently not sharing his play list
User 4 Is listening Bruno Mars.

We better not disturb User 3, he is wankin at a porn video at the moment.

Re:BlackBerry users watch porn?

[SpaghettiPattern]

A colleague of mine proudly takes his tablet to the can. Never mind the wanking, it's his hygiene that bothers me. Won't touch that or any other tablet/smart phone with a barge pole. At least regular keyboards are not often brought into the loo.

Re:BlackBerry users watch porn?

[azalin]

On the other hand touchscreens are a lot easier to clean and will be wiped once in a while (either by pockets, bags or once they can't be read in daylight anymore). Keyboards are bacteria's wet dream: Food crumbs, soda spills, dead skin cells, grease and sweat from your fingers all together in a nice hard to clean environment (in case of laptops they even get perfect reproduction temperature).

Re:BlackBerry users watch porn?

[Anonymous Coward]

That's an often ignored side-effect of data prostitution. If you don't participate, you're suspicious.

Thanks a lot, Facebook whores.

Where did my article vote go?

[Sowelu]

A few days ago I had the ability to vote stories up and down. Now it's gone. I wish I could vote this one down, it's utterly pointless.

Re:Where did my article vote go?

[KGIII]

http://slashdot.org/recent though it is too late now as the story is already posted.

Lame mandatory comment subject

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow. Big hoopla over nothing. No one seemed to care that msn messenger did the same thing when the same music feature was added. And now no one even remembers.

Even worse, no matter what phone you are loyal to, who the fuck would use a 4" screen to wank to porn?

Re:Lame mandatory comment subject

[narcc]

A 12-inch pianist?

Re:Lame mandatory comment subject

[azalin]

Is that a cue for a "my 12' inch pianist" joke?

Re:Lame mandatory comment subject

[RussR42]

No, it's a cue for the obligatory xkcd!

BBM? big bodied mama?

[invictusvoid]

I dont get the value of black berry in the current context of the androids and iphones .. why is blackberry still selling? there's a phone called blackcherry from china which pretty much delivers the same lame. ..

News for nerds eh? Just turn up your sound...

[Anonymous Coward]

You can broadcast your porn habbits by turning up the sound. Jeepers, why is this even news on slashdot?

What use case does it have?

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you have relationship with ANYONE that is so intimate, you'd want that turned on?

I'm sure you don't want your wife to see any porn you've visited, or birthday gifts you looked at.
I'm sure you don't want your mother to see too much .
Son? No!
Boss, definitely NO.

What idiot is in such a blind 'Facebook does it, so we do social too' kind of blanket rule.

Can anyone give me a use case that isn't idiotic for this feature???

Re:What use case does it have?

[TheRaven64]

I would imagine that most people listen to music on their mobile phones than watch porn on them. Some people enjoy sharing what they're listening to, and have via IRC and IM clients long before Facebook was around. It probably does it for video because they go via the same media application and no one bothered to put in an if-not-video conditional (or did and it was removed because music videos are a fairly common form of video to play on these devices).

Re:What use case does it have?

[PPH]

I'm sure you don't want your wife to see any porn you've visited,

I don't know about that. "Study this, honey. Be ready for tonight."

Re:hey BB users

[viperidaenz]

Adding to your host file won't stop the Telco blocking the ip
It may stop them blocking your dns request to resolve the hostname, if you use their dns servers, which you don't have to.

Re:today's Prenda Law hearing

[Anonymous Coward]

Silence is often the best kind of music.
--
Former RIAA operative

WTF is BBM?

[Captain_Chaos]

What is BBM? It would have been nice to define that in the summary, instead of assuming that every Slashdot reader is an experienced Blackberry user...

Re:WTF is BBM?

[Anonymous Coward]

BBM is in the dictionary.

http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/bbm

"can" vs. "will"

[Anonymous Coward]

As it turns out, this BBM feature in BlackBerry 10 can actually share anything you're listening to with your BBM network, including videos. Therefore, any videos viewed in the BlackBerry Z10 browser or media player will be displayed for all of one's BlackBerry contacts to see, even if you don't want your network to know you're watching certain videos.

So... can==will now?

"Will" I at least use my free "can" to choose not to watch certain videos on a BlackBerry?

No different than any other.

[Anonymous Coward]

So, it's like... every other media player than has the ability to share what it's currently playing?
Are there any which specifically exclude sharing porn titles?

I remember running afoul of this once, 10 years ago with Winamp+MSN, hilariously.

Re:No different than any other.

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh that was you was it?

Mum/Mom

Sensationalism

[MatrixCubed]

BlackBerry 10 Can BBM Anything You're Watching, Even Grandma's Crocheting Videos

BlackBerry 10 Can BBM Anything You're Watching, Even Game of Thrones

BlackBerry 10 Can BBM Anything You're Watching, Even Kittens

BlackBerry 10 Can BBM Anything You're Watching, Even Sesame Street

BlackBerry 10 Can BBM Anything You're Watching, Even LARPing

"Porn" obviously has more weight to garner clicks, so let's resort to sensationalizing the headline in order to make a buck.

A humble suggestion for Slashdot from your dear AC

[Anonymous Coward]

Why not use karma for bring a button for delete things like this story? Save drama and kittens!