RIM Can’t Provide E-Mail Interception Service…. Indian BlackBerry Users Fear Withdrawl…

This soap opera is really starting to get stupid.

In our last installment, RIM said it would monitor BlackBerries in India. It now seems that they can’t do that:

“For enterprise customers, the security architecture is based on a symmetric key system whereby the customer creates his own key, and only the customer possesses a copy of his encryption key, RIM said. The company does not possess a “master key”, nor does any “back door” exist in the system that would allow RIM or any third party to gain unauthorized access to the key or corporate data, it said.

Further, RIM would be unable to accommodate any request for a copy of an enterprise customer’s encryption key, as neither RIM nor any wireless network operator possess a copy of the key, it said.”

So it now looks like we’re back to square one, and BlackBerry service is once again threatened in India unless a solution to this can be found that makes everyone happy. The only good news for BlackBerry addicts users in India is that the discussions continue.

<SIGH>

A Look At The Funnier Moments Of Steve Ballmer

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is the IT industry’s clown prince as far as I am concerned. He’s had a ton of funny moments over the years, (as well as being the target for eggs) so I thought that I’d share a few of them with you.

First there’s this video of Ballmer selling Windows 1.0. He totally sounds like a used car salesman. One would argue that you would have to be to work for Microsoft. But then he moves on to what he calls “The bedrock of Microsoft” who are of course developers. Look at the sweat stains on his shirt. He really needs some of that clinical strength antiperspirant that’s appearing in drug stores near you. The best one has to be the infamous “Monkeyboy video” where Ballmer jumps around like a ADHD sufferer on speed. Did he not get his daily dosage of ritalin?

None of this behavior comes as a shock to anybody who knows him. According to Fredric Alan Maxwell who wrote a book on Ballmer, he once shouted ”Windows! Windows! Windows!” so furiously at a sales meeting in Japan that he ripped his vocal cords, requiring surgery. Now that’s a bit freaky. And then there’s his love of chairs and wanting to “kill” Google. That was something he said was a “gross exaggeration.” Given everything that I’ve cited, I’m not so sure.

All in all, an entertaining personality. I hope he hangs around for a bit so that more of his erratic behavior makes it onto Youtube.

Windows 7 Screen Shots And Info

For those of you who want to see what the next version of Windows MAY look like, I found this blog posting with some screen shots and info. I can’t confirm that these shots are authentic, but they do look interesting. I also find it interesting that while the posting allegedly confirms a ship date in 2010, there is also the following:

“Microsoft is maintaining a policy of silence concerning discussion of plans and aspirations for Windows 7 as they focus on the release and marketing of Windows Vista, stating that Microsoft does not want to promise features and then fail to deliver, as happened with Windows Vista Ultimate, though some early details of various core operating system features have emerged.”

Assuming that this is true, the other reason that they haven’t commented on this is that users may decide that is probably worth waiting three years rather than buying the failure known as Vista.

Canada To Protect The Privacy Of Domain Name Holders…. YEAH!

I just came across this story that has some great news if you are Canadian and have a .ca domain. Starting June 10th, all the Whois information (click here for an explanation) for .ca domains will be hidden from view. Why is this significant? Here’s a concrete example. Mary Smith decides to start a baking company out of her home. So she registers marysbaking.com so that she can get some extra exposure. If I do a whois lookup for marysbaking.com using whois.net or any number of other domain lookup tools, this is what I might find:

WHOIS information for: marysbaking.com:

Registrant:

Mary Smith
123 Any Street
Anytown, WA 96052-333
US

Domain name: MARYSBAKING.COM

Administrative Contact:
Mary Smith mary@marysbaking.com
Mary Smith
123 Any Street
Anytown, WA 96052-333
US
+1.555-555-1234

Technical Contact:
Mary Smith mary@marysbaking.com
Mary Smith
123 Any Street
Anytown, WA 96052-333
US
+1.555-555-1234

Given that this is Mary’s home address, this is a huge invasion to her privacy. It basically means that as the system currently stands, spammers, scammers, and stalkers can use the information in any way they see fit. Just think of all the bad stuff that could happen. But on June 10th, they’re out of luck in terms of getting this info. That’s because Canada has a privacy law called the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (or PIPEDA for short) which regulates how private-sector organizations collect, use and disclose personal information in the course of conducting business. This change brings those who register .ca domains as well as CIRA (the organization who oversees .ca registrations) into line with PIPEDA making Canada the leader in this area.

As always, there is a catch:

“Canadians who already own domain names won’t enjoy the same luxury of privacy right away. Given that their Whois data are already available on third-party websites, there’s little the registration authority can do to reign in that information.”

That kind of sucks, although there is a way around that. Some registrars such as Domainsatcost.ca have a privacy feature that gives you that sort of protection now. If you have a .ca domain, you may want to check to see if your registrar offers this feature.

This is one more reason why it’s great to be a Canadian.