Slashdot Mirror
BlackBerry Hands Over User Data To Help Police 'Kick Ass,' Insider Says (www.cbc.ca)
Reader Dr Caleb writes: A specialized unit inside mobile firm BlackBerry has for years enthusiastically helped intercept user data -- including BBM messages -- to help in hundreds of police investigations in dozens of countries, a CBC News investigation reveals. For instance, citing a number of sources, CBC says that BlackBerry intercepted messages to aid investigators probing the political scandals in Brazil that are dogging suspended President Dilma Rousseff. The company also helped authenticate BBM messages in Major League Baseball's drug investigation that saw New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez suspended in 2014. One document obtained by CBC News reveals how the Waterloo, Ont.-based company handles requests for information and co-operates with foreign law enforcement and government agencies, in stark contrast with many other tech companies. "We were helping law enforcement kick ass," said one person.
It is simply amazing that the folks calling the shots at Blackberry cant see how downright idiotic this policy is.
From a PR standpoint, its a miserable failure: Every news cycle for the last year, there has been some story or other implying that Cops are out killing innocent people in scores and droves. If you're blackberry, you get up and cheer on the killers.
From a monetary standpoint, this is a miserable failure. Lets just advertise that we hand out your information to every two bit despot and charlatan that asks. Thats a way to instill confidence in your product as a secure device fit for the leader of the free world. I wonder how sales of their newer devices is doing?
From an ethics standpoint, this is a miserable failure. "Those who will give up fundamental data security for a little perceived safety are morons" -Abraham Lincoln 1859
I wish I had a good sig, but all the good ones are copyrighted
I'm not a huge BB fan, but this really isn't news.
All major companies have done and continue to do what BB is doing as mentioned in the article, even those who refuse to write software to help unlock phones. They got praised for refusing to unlock phones but most ignored when people pointed out they gave up "cloud data" in a heartbeat.
Yeah, a leak like this makes me think someone WANTS to drive another nail in the coffin...
Which has more power: the hammer, or the anvil?
They got praised for refusing to unlock phones but most ignored when people pointed out they gave up "cloud data" in a heartbeat.
People have no reasonable expectation of privacy with cloud data. Its is well understood that once you send your data out into the world, it is fair game. If you don't like it, encrypt it, or make sure it doesn't leave your private devices. That is why the push for encrypted communications. Third parties are legally required to hand over data, but there is no requirement that the data be decrypted if the third party doesn't have the tools to do so. Apple makes sure that they do not have the tools to decrypt, as do many other software and hardware developers. Blackberry *does* have the tools to decrypt, and they are waaaay too ready to do so.
I wish I had a good sig, but all the good ones are copyrighted
Yeah, a bit too convenient in light of the public reaction to the FBI/Apple fight....
We know it's on the up-and-up because they make the police sign a letter
I'm sure that's about as effective as the US Constitution has been for our own police force.
It's absolutely wrong if there is no warrant driving the specific collection of specific data from a suspect's account with Blackberry.
That pesky Fourth Amendment actually does mean something, even if people are so willing to toss it frequently into the garbage.
Why not say- "People have no reasonable expectation of privacy with postal mail. Once you send the letter from your mailbox, it is fair game."
Except, there are federal laws that specifically make it illegal for another private citizen to snoop on your mail, and require a warrant for law enforcement to snoop on your mail.
I don't know about Brazil, but the way we prove investigations in the US aren't bogus is to get a judge to sign a warrant, or at a minimum, a subpoena.
There may be non-bogus investigations that do not use warrants or subpoenas, but I challenge you to prove it, a daunting task when there's no paper trail, except I guess a fax from another country from a cop doing coppy things trust me I'm a cop I promise cop's honor.
At this point, it's more like throwing a handful of dirt on the casket.
I'm expecting the BB zombie soon enough, when Chen tries to use what's left of the patent portfolio to turn the company into a patent troll.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
This has nothing to do with the Fourth Amendment — police can ask other people about you without a warrant. It is neither illegal nor unethical for them to do so, nor is it for those people to respond — unless the investigation itself is bogus, of course.
Asking to obtain data that could reasonably be categorized within the bucket of "papers or effects", such as phone call data, messaging data, e-mail data, etc. I would generally consider to be skirting the Fourth Amendment.
Further, the Fourth Amendment was written and put in place specifically because of abuse of "writs of assistance", very similar to the purpose of National Security Letters and also similar to what "asking" corporations such as Blackberry to hand over data today is like.
From Wikipedia: "In general, customs writs of assistance served as general search warrants that did not expire, allowing customs officials to search anywhere for smuggled goods without having to obtain a specific warrant. These writs became controversial when they were issued by courts in British America in the 1760s, especially the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Controversy over these general writs of assistance inspired the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which forbids general search warrants in the United States."
Therefore, whether Blackberry willingly complies with weakening the Fourth Amendment or not (and it certainly is today according to TFA), Blackberry or any other corporation does not have my consent to turn over data to government entities without a warrant, even if they snookered it into their EULA.
There is really no justification for any corporation handing over any personal customer data to any government entity without a warrant. That's exactly why we have the Fourth Amendment, and it's sad so many are so accepting of the gross overstepping that occurs every day to trample on the rights that are supposed to be protected by that Amendment.