Germany bans BlackBerrys and iPhones on snooping fears ? The Register

Quote:

The German government has advised ministers not to use BlackBerry and iPhone devices due to “a dramatic increase of attacks against” its networks. A general ban on the use of smartphones in certain German ministries is also being considered, Federal Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière confirmed to the country’s business daily newspaper Handelsblatt yesterday. He said that ministers and senior civil servants had been told to instead use Simko2 gadgets offered by T-Systems, following advice from the German federal office for information security (BSI). Berlin expressed concern that data for the BlackBerry smartphone passes through two Research in Motion centres in the UK and Canada. De Maizière added that there was a possible risk of “political IT attacks” from organised crime and foreign intelligence agencies and said that such harm to the government could increase with the use of the BlackBerry and other smartphones. "The BlackBerry infrastructure is a closed proprietary system. [But] the access standard to our networks must be determined by the government and not by a private company," he told the newspaper. His comments came after Canada-based RIM was forced to shift servers to Saudi Arabia after that country briefly banned use of the BlackBerry. Government officials in the United Arab Emirates also threatened to restrict the BlackBerry service. De Maizière added that the German ministry was first advised to avoid using BlackBerry and iPhone devices in November 2009. The spotlight is now on Germany, following concerns in Saudia Arabia and the UAE where security services complained they were not given access to RIM's servers. ®

__________________
Standard disclaimer: the disgusting statements contained in this post are the views of the poster, and unless specified do not represent the views of the moderators or the site's owners.

How important are secrets, anyway? Julian Assange seems to be of a view that society would function better if all such secrets were revealed.

It's not just (or even mostly) state secrets, though - a lot of them'll be discussing party strategy or what to buy their mistress for Valentine's day on there.

I know the French admin banned Blackberries ages ago.

__________________
Standard disclaimer: the disgusting statements contained in this post are the views of the poster, and unless specified do not represent the views of the moderators or the site's owners.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, other governments hear that there's a possibility of shady, clandestine organisations getting access to Blackberry data and respond with a hearty "Awesome! Sign me up to that!" (Rumour has it that RIM already has a deal of this sort going with the US intelligence services.)

Quote:

India may shut down Google and Skype Internet-based messaging services over security concerns, the Financial Times reported on Friday, as the government threatened a similar crackdown on BlackBerry services. The Financial Times quoted from the minutes of a July 12 meeting between telecommunication ministry security officials and operator associations to look at possible solutions to "intercept and monitor" encrypted communications. "There was consensus that there more than one type of service for which solutions are to be explored. Some of them are BlackBerry, Skype, Google etc," according to the department's minutes. "It was decided first to undertake the issue of BlackBerry and then the other services." On Thursday, the Indian government became the latest of several nations that have threatened to cut off Research In Motion's encrypted BlackBerry email and instant messaging services if the Canadian company does not address national security concerns. India has set an August 31 deadline for RIM. It wants access in a readable format to encrypted BlackBerry communication, on grounds it could be used by militants. Pakistani-based militants used mobile and satellite phones in the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people. India's demands follow a deal with Saudi Arabia, where a source said Research In Motion agreed to give authorities codes for BlackBerry Messenger users. The United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and Algeria also seek access. Officials say RIM had proposed tracking emails without sharing encryption details, but that was not enough. The Financial Times report said representatives from two of the telecom operator associations present confirmed the details of the meeting earlier this month. "At the last security meeting, the agencies were talking about BlackBerry. They were also coming out heavily on Skype and Google," said Rajesh Chharia, president of the Internet Service Providers Association of India. A shutdown would affect one million users in India out of the smartphone's 41 million users. India is one of RIM's fastest growing markets. RIM, unlike rivals Nokia and Apple, operates its own network through secure servers located in Canada and other countries, such as Britain. RIM's shares ended more than 2 per cent lower at C$56.44 in the Toronto market. In a matter of a few weeks, the BlackBerry device - long the darling of the world's CEOs and politicians, including US President Barack Obama - has become a target for its sealed email and messaging services with governments around the world.

India 'may shut down' Google and Skype services - News, Gadgets & Tech - The Independent

__________________
Standard disclaimer: the disgusting statements contained in this post are the views of the poster, and unless specified do not represent the views of the moderators or the site's owners.

RIM tries to placate everyone ? The Register

Quote:

RIM, operator of the BlackBerry service, has been explaining that customers' security and government contracts are equally important, and that it really, really, doesn't have any keys to hand over. The company has been very restrained on the governmental demands and statements put out recently, refusing to comment on just about everything except to deny the existence of a "master key". But now RIM has laid out the principles that apparently guide its decision making process. Governments around the world have been increasingly vocal in demanding the ability to lawfully intercept BlackBerry communications. RIM is facing accusations of caving too easily to Saudi Arabia by agreeing to host servers within the country, and now India is demanding access to cryptographic keys that just don't exist. RIM would like to make it clear that it "genuinely tries to be as cooperative as possible with governments in the spirit of supporting legal and national security requirements". RIM will not secure communications against the wishes of the lawful government. As long as everyone else is subject to the same rules, that is. RIM's second point is about playing fair, so everyone must be subject to the same rules. RIM's fourth point is that it doesn't make concessions for specific countries, which is sort of true. If RIM has a server in the UK (which it does) then that is subject to UK law, but if RIM doesn't have a server in Saudi Arabia then it is not subject to Saudi law. That's a matter of geography rather than any concessions made by RIM. But it's the third point - the "master key" demand - that prompted RIM's public declaration. As the company explains with increasing desperation: "RIM truly has no ability to provide its customers’ encryption keys." As we've already pointed out, for those running their own BlackBerry Enterprise Server that's almost certainly true. The encrypted messages may be routed through a RIM server, but only in encrypted form with the handset performing the decryption locally. This is irrelevant to lawful interception as the local government can just seize the server if necessary, but it does obstruct the kind of fishing expedition that concerns most people. To use an example: if the UK police want a copy of your mobile phone communications (though a BlackBerry or otherwise) then they approach your network operator and make the request. They must make an explicit request for specific information: calls between specific times, messages exchanged with a specific number, and so forth, and it must all be with reference to a specific case. What the UK police can't do is monitor huge quantities of mobile phone communication to see if anything interesting turns up, not least because the network operators charge them for every request. A perfect solution would be for every BlackBerry user to start using a BlackBerry Enterprise Server (by a remarkable coincidence the Express version got updated yesterday, and it's free), as that would put the server in the same country as the user. But as long as there are loads of BlackBerry users aggregating their personal email accounts on out-of-country servers security is going to be a problem, and politicians will continue on asking RIM for copies of non-existent keys. ® Update: The Calcutta News reports that RIM is seeking further meetings with the Indian government, though is having trouble getting an appointment. Negotiations are obviously ongoing, and we'll keep you updated.

__________________
Standard disclaimer: the disgusting statements contained in this post are the views of the poster, and unless specified do not represent the views of the moderators or the site's owners.