There's a sucker born every minute - Phineas T. Barnum
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Man charged for planning a water fight over BBM
POLICE IN ESSEX have charged a man for arranging a water fight over Blackberry Messenger as part of a crackdown on people talking and arranging things through social messaging.
The twenty year old man was arrested after police uncovered plans for the non-violent water fight that appeared on Blackberry Messenger and Facebook, and according to the Guardian he will appear before magistrates in September.
So far he is unnamed but he has been charged under the 2007 Serious Crimes Act with "encouraging or assisting in the commission of an offence", adds the Guardian. A second man, also thought to have been involved in plans to get people wet, was also arrested but has been released without charge.
Despite the water fight having been arranged through the chat and social messaging services the Essex police have denied that it is monitoring BBM since the riots last week.
"Essex police use appropriate measures for whatever the crime and wherever our investigations lead us," said a spokesman.
The Blackberry Messenger system was criticised for its role in the riots last week, and since then the firm has suggested that it would help law enforcement and the police in their investigations.
This earned it the attention of hacker group Team Poison which took over one of its web sites and issued a warning against it and its workers should it collude with the police.
This latest news, that a man has been arrested for arranging something as playful as a water fight, is unlikely to do RIM any favours. µ
Tags: Security
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Perfectly anonymous too. So here's the plan: on Thursday at noon in front of city hall, everybody pull out their water pistols and start blasting. Even better if the mayor is coming out for lunch. Folks lets make this happen! You will recognize me because I will have two green water pistols and a blue baseball cap that says "water wars.com"
I'm not up on RIM, but last year, was a big flap in which RIM claimed they couldn't read the messages, nor could national security agencies. Have they at last tacity admitted that was all hooey?
Correct me if I am wrong, but most western countries (including the UK) have adopted the "innocent until proven guilty" stance. If the police have evidence suggesting the this gentleman was in fact planning mass murder (as George has insinuated), then the police should at least say "we have evidence suggesting this was not in fact a 'water fight'.". As it stands the police are already on shaky ground after lying about monitoring BBM. I for one believe that this gentleman deserves the benefit of the doubt.
Maybe "water fight" is in fact code for something else, like flash robbing or arson or shooting some cops or blowing up a subway train. I would investigate this a bit more before dismissing it.