• Text size
  • Send this article to a friend
  • Print this article

Knee-jerk reaction would just be a kick in the teeth

If David Cameron moves to control the BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) service in times of urban strife, Britain will fall neatly into line with the likes of Saudi Arabia, China, and sundry other regimes spooked by unrest.

That’s not a political point, just a fact. Plenty of governments with suspect motives are troubled by the relative privacy afforded by BBM. Its suppression sounds like a bad idea, whatever the reason.