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To some extent this is a reflection on the company's Canadian culture. Canadians tend, to the extent that can ever be generalized about a nation of people, to b
by Naritai 10y ago
To some extent this is a reflection on the company's Canadian culture. Canadians tend, to the extent that can ever be generalized about a nation of people, to be pro-government and assume that the government may not be perfect but has the best interests of its citizens at heart. For example, Americans refer to their government decisions as 'they decided', but Canadians say 'we decided'.
Given this, I'm not surprised BB thinks they're doing the right thing by helping governments spy on their people.
Source: I'm a Canadian who has lived in the US for 8 years. I was quite patriotic in my youth, so I've spent some time reflecting on the differences between Canada and the US.
- grizzles 10y agoI don't think you can generalize at all. Your comment is essentially self stereotyping. I'm good at math so I must be asian. Oops, that doesn't work for me. Blackberry was a great company once, with wonderfully generous founders that donated tens of millions of dollars to fundamental physics research. No longer. Now the Blackberry PRIV is PRIV until they say it's UNPRIV. That sounds like false advertising to me. I feel downright sorry for their customers in repressive countries. There have been quite a few stories lately about their sales doing terribly. I wouldn't be surprised if this leak was some kind of purposeful act of desperation to drive sales by ingratiating themselves with their government and corporate accounts that see this as a feature. For shame.
- secfirstmd 10y agoAgreed. Have worked with dozens of human rights defenders and journalists in repressive countries who thought that just because they had Blackberrys they were safe. :(
- mattm 10y agoWell, I'm a Canadian and I agree with him. Quite often in Canada you'll see commercials saying you shouldn't do something because "it's the law".
- Naritai 10y agoAmong your errors is conflating culture and race. Those aren't the same thing.
- MichaelGG 10y ago>Major League Baseball's drug investigation that saw New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez suspended in 2014 I looked this up. Seems to be in the US, and also, it's just some guy using personal drugs, albeit for profit. Shouldn't even be an offense, let alone something for police to "kick ass" in.
- Naritai 10y agoOh I agree with you there. But since BB corporate head office is in Canada, I assume that's where the decision to engage in this program was made.
- slavik81 10y agoTrue to an extent, but I think you extrapolate further than the attitude really extends. The demise of the long gun registry is a counterexample.
- Naritai 10y agoUsing cultural traits to explain specific actions is always a tenuous argument, i agree. I do think that such an action will be treated more kindly by the Canadian press than it would by an American one, though. Let's see.