PRISM: Why privacy is the price of digital-age communication - by Omar El Akkad

Since the revelations of widespread intelligence-agency eavesdropping on the digital communications of millions of people in the United States and around the world, governments and technology companies have been under immense pressure to explain exactly how pervasive the monitoring has become. Users of e-mail and social networks provided by the likes of Google Inc., Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. have found themselves asking whether there are any means of keeping their data totally secure.

The short answer, it seems, is that there isn’t. And new revelations suggest that even the BlackBerry, touted by Research In Motion Ltd. as the most secure form of wireless communication in the market, could not clock the prying eyes of government.

The Guardian newspaper reported that the Government Communications Headquarters, Britain’s intelligence agency, spied on the e-mail and phone communications of visiting foreign dignitaries during meetings in London in 2009. The paper reported that, among other things, the GCHQ had manged to “penetrate” the security of the visiting officials’ BlackBerrys.

Read more: Why privacy is the price of digital-age communication - The Globe and Mail

Cellular Phones: BlackBerry shares continue slide after launch underwhelms

A day after the glitzy party to launch the company's new line of smartphones, BlackBerry shareholders' hangover continued Thursday as the stock extended its four-day slide.

BlackBerry shares were trading hands at $12.86 US on the Nasdaq, down seven per cent on the day. That slide was a continuation of Wednesday's action, when shares in the smartphone maker started sliding after the company launched its next generation BlackBerry 10 line of devices.

BlackBerry shares had been slightly higher in early trading Wednesday before Heins took the stage at an event in New York a little after 10 a.m. ET.

Before the launch, BlackBerry shares were changing hands at $16.56 US. Within minutes of news emerging that the devices would not be immediately available in the U.S. market, BlackBerry shares started slumping. They closed Wednesday below $14 and continued that slide early Thursday, opening at $12.46 — almost 25 per cent below the level they were at before Heins started speaking.

Read more: BlackBerry shares continue slide after launch underwhelms - Business - CBC News