# How Blackberry, not Twitter, fuelled the fire under London’s riots



## Kid_Eternity (Aug 8, 2011)

RIM has had to make a statement too as a result of this story...



> The latest incidents over the weekend appear to have been sparked after a peaceful protest outside Tottenham’s police station over the fatal shooting of local man Mark Duggan, killed during an alleged gunfight with police on Thursday, was reportedly hijacked by thugs and looters.
> 
> But while Twitter and Facebook became the venues for public protests around public spending cuts it is the affordable BlackBerry handset and its near free BlackBerry Messenger network where group chats take place, which appears to have fuelled these riots. To communicate, BBM users have to exchange their phones’ PINs, making their messages are private, but PINs can be spread by any means – including, of course, Twitter and other social networks – but also via (still non-public) SMS.
> 
> In addition, BlackBerrys are high functioning phones but can often cost less than smartphones like Androids or iPhones, which are typically the choice of Twitter users due to the wide range of client applications. And remember, Androids and iPhones don’t run the free BBM network, and no other group messaging app has yet taken hold in the UK. As a result BlackBerrys have become the weapon of choice of Britain’s disaffected youth.


----------



## spanglechick (Aug 8, 2011)

yeah - about 80% of the teenagers I teach have Blackberries.


----------



## Callum91 (Aug 8, 2011)

A large percentage of the people in my classes at college have Blackberries, mainly due to the cheapness.


----------



## Winot (Aug 9, 2011)

Wonder if this will cause bad publicity for Blackberry.


----------



## mwgdrwg (Aug 9, 2011)

I can imagine this making Blackberry phones even cooler with the 'kids'.


----------



## zenie (Aug 9, 2011)

The broadcast function would have been pretty useful I expect!

Thing is other phones have IMing but none as good as BBM.

oh and 'weapons of choice' fuck off!!


----------



## mystic pyjamas (Aug 9, 2011)

Sure I heard on the news yesterday that bb were going hand over any relevant messages concerning riot chatter to the police.
Is this technically/legally possible?


----------



## editor (Aug 9, 2011)

mystic pyjamas said:


> Sure I heard on the news yesterday that bb were going hand over any relevant messages concerning riot chatter to the police.
> Is this technically/legally possible?


Yes, under the provisions of the RIP Act.


----------



## pk (Aug 9, 2011)

editor said:


> Yes, under the provisions of the RIP Act.



Glad to hear it. Lots of non-violent prisoners might be released to make room for the looters who get nicked.


----------



## krink (Aug 9, 2011)

can anyone tell me what the difference is between sending texts on a mobile phone and this BBM service? can you use BBM only from a blackberry handset? I'm not clued up with phones but I am interested to learn.


----------



## Greebo (Aug 9, 2011)

krink said:


> can anyone tell me what the difference is between sending texts on a mobile phone and this BBM service? can you use BBM only from a blackberry handset? I'm not clued up with phones but I am interested to learn.


BBM is apparently more difficult for the police etc to hack, it's a completely different system to SMS.


----------



## skyscraper101 (Aug 9, 2011)

BBMing is free.


----------



## Winot (Aug 10, 2011)

Brixton MP Chuka Umunna has called for Blackberry temporarily to turn off BBM between1800h and 0600h.


----------



## zenie (Aug 10, 2011)

Winot said:


> Brixton MP Chuka Umunna has called for Blackberry temporarily to turn off BBM between1800h and 0600h.



oh FFS how ridiculous


----------



## newme (Aug 10, 2011)

zenie said:


> oh FFS how ridiculous



yeh well makes it look like there doing something without actually having to do anything doesnt it


----------



## editor (Aug 10, 2011)

Winot said:


> Brixton MP Chuka Umunna has called for Blackberry temporarily to turn off BBM between1800h and 0600h.


Yeah. That'll really work. Will he be turning off his phone too?


----------



## Greebo (Aug 10, 2011)

editor said:


> Yeah. That'll really work. Will he be turning off his phone too?


Of course he won't - social control is only for oiks and little people - not for the likes of him. Bloody sell out.


----------



## Pickman's model (Aug 10, 2011)

pk said:


> Glad to hear it. Lots of non-violent prisoners might be released to make room for the looters who get nicked.


looting is not necessarily a violent act. for example, the people who looted shopping city do not appear to have been at all violent. if non-violence is, for you, a criterion for early release then the people from eg wood green should be at the front of the queue.


----------



## Pickman's model (Aug 10, 2011)

Winot said:


> Brixton MP Chuka Umunna has called for Blackberry temporarily to turn off BBM between1800h and 0600h.


i'd like to see chuka umunna turned off between 0600 and 2300.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Aug 10, 2011)

editor said:


> Yeah. That'll really work. Will he be turning off his phone too?



He has an iPhone.


----------



## g force (Aug 10, 2011)

Of course he does  I quite like Chukka but he's becoming a parody very quickly...happily becoming Mr Rent-a-quote, jetting off to the US to see how Washington is helping small businesses (err...Google it?), budding up to Ed.


----------



## editor (Aug 10, 2011)

Kid_Eternity said:


> He has an iPhone.


Ah, so he has solid proof that no other brand of smartphone has been used to organise any elements of the riots, then.

Er, hasn't he?


----------



## roctrevezel (Aug 10, 2011)

Breaking news (BBC News 24) A man has been charged with inciting violence via a "social media".
(No other details currently.)


----------



## elbows (Aug 10, 2011)

roctrevezel said:


> Breaking news (BBC News 24) A man has been charged with inciting violence via a "social media".
> (No other details currently.)



There have been around half a dozen of these cases in the last day or so, mostly people encouraging trouble via twitter or Facebook. I've not heard of any Blackberry ones yet, although I suppose they may do those people for conspiracy rather than incitement.

As for the secure nature of Blackberry messages, I recall their devices were almost blocked in couple of countries some months back, because the governments of the countries could not snoop on the messages with ease. In the end RIM came to some sort of arrangement.


----------



## elbows (Aug 10, 2011)

Here is an example:

http://www.thestar.com/business/com...rs-new-services-after-settling-dispute-in-uae



> The UAE—which has half a million BlackBerry users—this month dropped a threat to suspend BlackBerry services and said it reached a deal with the Canadian smartphone maker in which RIM complied with its regulations.
> RIM has been in dispute this year with a number of countries in the Gulf Arab region and elsewhere over its encrypted email and messaging services, which they want to monitor.
> It has already reached a deal with the UAE and Saudi Arabia over access, though RIM hasn’t given any details of what it has done to resolve the dispute. It remains in talks with India.
> “The enormous popularity of BlackBerry Messenger in the Middle East demonstrates the potential for new apps and services in the region,” Balsillie told a conference at the event.


----------

