'It's unbelievable BlackBerry Messenger hasn't been shut down': Mayor's aide calls for ban on riot 'tool'

  • Technology adviser to Boris Johnson likens BBM service to 'text-messaging with steroids'.
  • BBM messages reveal chilling looter plans to arm themselves and cause havoc
By Daily Mail Reporter
Created 10:34 PM on 8th August 2011



There were calls today to shut down the BlackBerry Messenger service which is thought to have played a key role in helping mobilise looters involved in the riots across London.
Mike Butcher, a technology journalist and digital adviser to Boris Johnson, said it was 'unbelievable' that the BBM service had not been disabled.
Messages on the service, along with posts on Twitter, helped spread the locations of riots like wildfire and brought hordes of teenagers together to attack neighbourhoods throughout the weeke

http://www.firstpost.com/tech/day-3-shutdown-blackberry-becoming-a-joke-105513.html
Excerpt:
BlackBerry is fast turning into a joke. For the third day running, many users in India are unable to receive e-mail or use BlackBerry Messenger. So-called BlackBerry smartphones have turned dumber than the cheapest devices available on the market as all frustrated users can do is call or turn to SMS.
RIM in a statement said: “The messaging and browsing delays being experienced by BlackBerry users in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, Brazil, Chile and Argentina were caused by a core switch failure within RIM’s infrastructure. Although the system is designed to failover to a back-up switch, the failover did not function as previously tested. As a result, a large backlog of data was generated and we are now working to clear that backlog and restore normal service as quickly as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience and we will continue to keep you informed.”