[LINK] RIM Monitoring Project

[Roger Clarke]

>October 21, 2010
>
>Information Warfare Monitor (Citizen Lab and SecDev Group) Announces
>RIM Monitoring Project
>
>Recently a number of governments have threatened to ban Research in
>Motion's BlackBerry services if the company does not make encrypted
>BlackBerry data and other content available to state authorities . A
>major concern of these regimes is that BlackBerry data can be
>encrypted and routed through servers located outside of their
>jurisdictions. Unconfirmed reports have circulated that RIM has made
>data sharing agreements with India and Saudi Arabia and the United
>Arab Emirates. Other countries are also requesting the company locate
>data centres within their jurisdictions.
>
>The RIM Check (https://rimcheck.org/) Web site is a research project
>designed to gather information on how traffic exits the BlackBerry
>network depending on the country in which the user is located. The
>findings from this project will be published and made publicly
>available.
>
>The project is being conducted by the Information Warfare Monitor and
>the Web site is maintained by the (Citizen Lab at the Munk School of
>Global Affairs, University of Toronto).
>
>The RIM Check project is inspired by a broad need to monitor the
>activities of private sector actors that own and operate cyberspace,
>particularly as they come under increasing pressure to cooperate with
>governments on national surveillance and censorship laws, policies,
>and requests.  Decisions taken by private sector actors, often at the
>behest of governments seeking access to their data or assistance
>blocking Web sites, can have major consequences for human rights.
>These decisions can lack transparency and public accountability.  This
>project is meant to address that lack of transparency.
>
>The project is exploratory in nature and meant to test hypotheses.
>Researchers of the Information Warfare Monitor project will analyze
>the data collected from the Web site over an extended period of time.
>Other methods are in development to supplement data collected through
>the RIM Check web site. Field research and policy analysis will also
>be employed to complement the technical collection activities.  The
>Information Warfare Monitor will also be analyzing for evidence of
>content filtering on Blackberry devices.
>
>For further reading see:
>
>Ron Deibert, Cyberspace Confidential, August 6 2010, Globe and Mail
>
>Danny O'Brien, Why governments don't need RIM to crack the BlackBerry,
>August 3, 2010, Committee to Protect Journalists
>
>Full RIM customer statement on BlackBerry security issues
>
>About the Information Warfare Monitor
>
>The Information Warfare Monitor is public-private venture between two
>Canadian institutions: the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global
>Affairs, University of Toronto and The SecDev Group, an operational
>think tank based in a Ottawa (Canada).  The Information Warfare
>Monitor is an advanced research activity tracking the emergence of
>cyberspace as a strategic domain. We are an independent research
>effort. Our mission is to build and broaden the evidence base
>available to scholars, policy makers, and others. We aim to educate
>and inform.
>
>Inquiries: r.deibert at utoronto.ca
>
>
>Ronald J. Deibert
>Director, The Citizen Lab
>Munk School of Global Affairs
>University of Toronto
>r.deibert at utoronto.ca
>http://deibert.citizenlab.org/
>twitter.com/citizenlab

-- 
Roger Clarke                                 http://www.rogerclarke.com/

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Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of NSW
Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University