back to article BlackBerry: Comeback canter should be a trot... yet, weirdly, isn't

Investors looking to make long term bets in technology companies are often faced with a conundrum. Is the company exaggerating its assets? Or does it have great assets, but isn't selling them as well as it should? BlackBerry might be a textbook example of the latter. The company posted higher than expected revenue on Friday ($ …

  1. Voland's right hand Silver badge

    Security is a two-edged sword

    On one side you have the customers looking to be secure.

    On the other side you are now looking for an ever growing queue of suspects wishing that they become less so. They also have a leverage - do this, or no government or "security clearance required" sales. This very nicely intersects with a large slice of the customer base which may be potentially interested in secure messaging so BB ends up between a hammer and anvil. A very unenviable position.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Security is a two-edged sword

      You're quite right. It has occasionally been pointed out that the Internet is trying to solve conflicting requirements.

      The first is to allow anyone anywhere to access information freely, no matter what anyone (e.g. their despotic government) says.

      The second is to prevent anyone anywhere accessing information freely, no matter what anyone (e.g. criminals, fraudsters, paedophiles, snoopers) says.

      Hmm, seems to me that it can't ever satisfactorily fulfill both requirements simultaneously. Ultimately something will have to give way...

      Everyone is caught between the hammer and anvil. BB, in saying that they'd cooperate with legal inquiries, are recognising that. Apple, in saying that they're going out of their way to hinder such inquiries, are trying to pretend that the hammer and anvil aren't there at all.

      I tried to take a look at a Priv in Dixons/Carphone Warehouse, but they'd sold out (seemingly to the surprise of the staff) and were waiting for more stock.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Security is a two-edged sword

        <continued>

        Of course, the FBI aren't helping much. By pursuing MS in the US courts for access to their Irish data centre, they're ride roughshod all over the norms of law enforcement in the US and threatening the internationally recognised mutual assistance treaties that are there for this very purpose. They need to wind their necks in. It's hardly surprising that the corporate response to this kind of pressure isn't exactly the best...

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Meanwhile my employer (global IT business, 200k staff globally) is actively demanding that people return their blackberrys and is replacing them with Windowsphones for those who aren't doing BYOD with Apple devices. Androids are banned - you can bring one to work but it's not getting on the corporate network or having your work email on it.

    1. Cirdan
      Trollface

      Requiring WindowsPhone

      Dear AC:

      You work for Microsoft, maybe?

      <evil grin>

      ...Cirdan...

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I'm still waiting to see the article about how somebody's Android spilled all of a company's deepest held secrets to the world. Or how a company's IT was shut down because somebody hooked an Android up to the WiFi.

      1. OrinokoMatt
        Thumb Up

        Well hopefully if us sys admins keep on diligently blocking them you'll be waiting a while thankfully :)

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Blackberry Backdoor to blame

    Well the trouble with Blackberry is it offers 'Lawful intercept capabilities' while telling its customers it offers end to end encryption! 'Lawful' which, as we are finding out in the UK, means 'slurp up everything, search it without warrant and keep all this secret from Parliament and people and courts.

    http://www.itnews.com.au/news/blackberry-offers-lawful-interception-for-devices-but-no-backdoors-412028

    So their idea of 'lawful' and the version as interpretted by the judiciary and people's elected MPs is VASTLY different.

    What use is end to end encryption if you backdoor it? China will demand access, USA has, UK has, whose law? Answering to which voters? Because Blackberry operate everywhere and a backdoor at their level does not respect jurisdictional limits.

    1. Wilson! Wilson!

      Re: Blackberry Backdoor to blame

      The link you provided states BlackBerry does not have backdoors... and thus contradicts your post. BlackBerry, like Apple, does not store or keep user data so there is nothing to backdoor into. What Chen said was that GPS coordinates and other metadata can help law enforcement track suspects without access to encrypted communications. It appears Tim Cook doesn't want to share this unencrypted metadata with law enforcement... which is an approach many believe will force the government to enact some really stupid law that will make life harder for everybody else in the tech sector.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Governments have only themselves to blame

    Recent events in the United States have proven that when law enforcement lie, they only succeed in making their life more difficult down the road. Whether its the blue wall of silence after a civilian shooting or illegally acessing communications, the results are the same.

    For a decade after 9/11 consumers did not care about encryption. And people were accepting of legally sanctioned law enforcement strategies like phone taps: you get a warrant, you tap the suspect, everyone is cool.

    The only reason encryption is such an issue today is that the United States government bypassed the law and lied about it again and again. James Clapper is Exhibit A. So who can blame consumers for wanting to encrypt everything?

    To reiterate: no-one has a problem with the NSA hacking targets. Everyone but the NSA has a problem with the NSA hacking targets illegally. Surveillance without cause on targets is illegal, period.

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