BlackBerry maker RIM to face MPs over riot claims

Committee to ask if BlackBerry Messenger was used to plan disorder – and also question Facebook and Twitter executives BlackBerry maker Research in Motion will come under the spotlight on Thursday when a Commons select committee investigates whether BlackBerry Messenger played a key role in the civil unrest across England last month. Several MPs on the home affairs select committee are understood to want to put BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) under intense scrutiny following claims that rioters used the private network to plan the disorder . Unlike Facebook and Twitter, BBM is encrypted and its messages hidden from public view. One committee member who declined to be named said: “There was suggestions from police that BBM in particular was used to facilitate organised crime during the riots. The question is, does [Research in Motion] have a responsibility to monitor its network or should the authorities have the power to do that? That is one of the issues to tackle without equating us with an authoritarian state.” Stephen Bates, RIM’s UK managing director, is expected to face questions from MPs on the company’s view of law enforcement being given additional powers to shut down social networks in times of unrest. MPs are understood to be keen to move away from “kneejerk” responses such as banning potential rioters from websites – as proposed by David Cameron in the immediate aftermath of the disorder – but will approach the “exceedingly controversial” topic, according to the same committee member. Executives from Facebook, Twitter and RIM will all appear before the committee on Thursday afternoon, following appearances from six senior officers from Greater Manchester police, West Midlands police and Nottinghamshire police. A second committee member suggested the social networks would be asked whether they would be willing to release data – including users’ messages and contact details – as they do when ordered for phone calls and text messages. “[The committee hearing] will be about disentagling the rhetoric in the immediate aftermath and how that differs from the realities of the meetings that they’ve had with [with government and law enforcement],” the MP said. The three social networks were summoned to a meeting with the home secretary, Theresa May, following the unrest. The government rowed back on a suggestion from the prime minister that it would look to restrict the sites during times of disorder. Twitter is understood to have flown in its California-based general counsel, Alexander Macgillivray, for the hearing. The Facebook head of policy, Richard Allen, will represent that social network. •

Posted by on September 15, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.