RIM records employee calls to protect IP

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion acknowledged Tuesday that it records all employee conversations in the interest of maintaining control over intellectual property.

RIM Chief Information Officer Robin Bienfait, during an interview with ZDNet.com.au in Sydney, said that all actions carried out on RIM's internal network were logged, which meant that people who wanted to carry out private conversations might want to bring in personal devices.

Research In Motion CIO Robin Bienfait

(Credit: Research In Motion)

"Everything I have that's on RIM is recorded and retained as RIM. So if they want to have a chat with somebody and it's not a chat that's within RIM's domain, then they may want their own personal device," she said.

When asked exactly whether it was conversations, rather than just written information she kept tabs on, Bienfait answered: "Everything. I record everything."

It wasn't a violation of privacy, according to Bienfait, who maintained the workers were aware of the surveillance: "They're doing business inside of RIM. Everything they can say or do can be patented...We're not violating anybody's privacy. They're aware that their information is transparent and in visibility."

She added that as a company reliant on its intellectual property, RIM had to be careful. "Their running anything on the RIM network or in our space is something that we have to capture because of disclosure," the executive said.

There is also a high level of caution around the prerelease beta devices which circulate around for employees to act as testers and users. Employees have to keep the devices out of sight when they go off campus so as to avoid people taking photos of the new technology. "We have to trust that they guard it," the CIO said.

Sometimes, breaches have occurred, followed by quick action on the part of the company. "We go take a look at whatever the breach or the leak is and we track it back to who or whatever caused it and we take whatever necessary action," Bienfait said.

Generally, however, employees were quick to say when their devices had been lost in a taxi, she said. "Our people are really, really good. They know their obligations as a beta tester."

In such cases, RIM would wipe the device immediately, so that it was just a piece of hardware. "I can't melt it from the sky yet. I would like that," Bienfait said.

Employees needed to enjoy the opportunity to work with the devices they had a part in manufacturing, since staff can only use BlackBerry devices for work. Bienfait said she had never had to deal with a request to put the iPhone on the network.

She said it freed her from some of the problems which plagued other companies, where IT departments had needed to deal with people wanting devices to be hooked up to the network which might compromise security. "I think it is a challenge for the industry to be able to manage some of the Gen Y's," she admitted.

Yet the eat-home-cooking law didn't hamper employee individuality, Bienfait believed, as employees ran rampant with the customization of their devices. "You can be an individual in our space. You just have to use one of the BlackBerry form factors," she said.

Suzanne Tindal of ZDNet Australia reported from Sydney.

Actually, isn't it a Federal felony to record phone conversations in ANY circumstances. IANAL, but I don't think we have granted Corporate America an exemption to federal wiretapping laws. As I understand, the can log phone #'s, duration, etc., but once they record the phone conversation, they have committed a felony, even if it is their phone. Again, this only applies to telephone calls, not the Internet. Can someone please advise who has some legal knowledge?

[mrisnow]

Laws may be different in Canada when it comes to this. They aren't a clone of the USA.

[Dalkorian]

IANAL either, but I always thought it was legal if and only if all parties involved were aware of the recording.

[umbrae]

It is not a felony as long as it is stated up front. Ever heard the "calls may be monitored or record for quality assurance" statement? Companies usually run their own telco equipment, and as long as there is a policy they can record what they want on their own equipment. I would not say what RIM is doing is ethical, but it is probably legal. However, I will never work for RIM or own a Blackberry just because of this article.

Most restrictions to wiretapping laws are only meant to restrict the government: unless you are the Bush administration then you do whatever you want and spit at the laws.

[nmancer61]

Any relation to Dick Cheney?

[jameslopez]

yep it's pretty obvious they haven't used an iphone, try that piece of crap storm that came out over a year later and was an absolutely unuseable piece of garbage. if they were smart they'd change this policy.

[jeroethel]

1. IAAL and I am pretty sure that if one party consents, then it is OK under US federal law. The RIM person consents since that is a condition of employment. There are a few states left that require both parties to consent, but the question was federal law.

2. Sydney is in Australia, not Canada

3. Now that we have all conversations recorded and all electronic comunications archived, what do we do with them? Does RIM hire retired CIA analysts to work graveyard and listen to these archives and note any inventions that were made during the conversations? Sounds like a good retirement job; RIM can send me the tapes, I'll listen to them, bill by the hour, make sure the amount of my bill is expressed in US dollars and then go play golf.

[umbrae]

I used to work for a telco, and there is good software that can recognize statements. They probably put keywords in and review any conversations that match. Same reason you should not even joke on the phone about assassinating the president since every telco has a government room.

[sportav]

umbrae, that's so "Enemy of the State"!

[ambigous]

"Sydney is in Australia, not Canada"

Canada was mentioned by a previous poster because RIM is a Canadian company. Ms. Bienfait is based in Ontario Canada and was only visiting Australia at the time of the interview (curiously the article's writer neglected to point this out). I rather doubt RIM hires retired CIA personnel as you rhetorically surmise. Too big a border and immigration hassle.

[freddy_ace]

If someone really wanted to steal/distribute IP wouldn't they just do it using their personal device they sneak in?

[cbazza]

That's the key difference between RIM and Apple... RIM forces their employees to use Blackberries, Apple employees just choose to use the iPhone.

Carlos.

[skillingssucks]

What a moron she is. She says they "they might want to use their own personal device", thus totally negating the need for recording in the first place. Additionally, if someone wanted to release RIM IP, couldn't they just do it from home? "Hey Bob, you home? Check out what new device we're working on". (rolls eyes)

Instead of making employees feel trusted and valued, this fool would rather alienate existing and potential employees with her Big Brother management style. I know I'd never work there. How many others would feel the same? Next thing you know, they'll be screaming about how bad the economy is and citing that as the reason for their woes. Meanwhile, Apple and other like companies will have the best of those people that left RIM and those that chose never to work their in the first place. Absolute fool.

[regulator1956]

The security at Apple is much more onerous. Remember, Apple sues websites to discover the source of a leak.

[gggg sssss]

last I looked RIM is still more successful than Apple

[skillingssucks]

Yeah ummmm, you might want to take a look again. Not even close. (rolls eyes)

[VickiePynchon]

I guess none of the RIM exec's have seen Frost/Nixon.