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"All this past very unusual week in Canadian politics, the BlackBerry has been a more indispensable tool than the telephone or the computer." From: http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/archives/ story.asp?id=87A5725E-968C-46DD-861C-E5771089AF78 (cut and paste on one line) BlackBerry is the weapon of political revolt Susan Delacourt The Ottawa Citizen Saturday, June 08, 2002 ADVERTISEMENT Let history show -- when revolution came to the federal Liberal party, it arrived by BlackBerry. The tiny, wireless e-mail devices, a made-in-Canada innovation, are everywhere in this new, open phase of combat in the Liberal leadership struggle between Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and former finance minister Paul Martin. Thanks to the BlackBerry, for instance, developments at Wednesday's stormy caucus meeting were basically broadcast in real time to the outside world -- well, to a specialized clutch of outsiders who had BlackBerry-toting friends among the MPs. All around Parliament Hill and undoubtedly beyond, Liberal insiders hovered over their little portable e-mail devices, learning which MP was at the microphone and what he or she was saying. Last weekend, the temperature of the Martin-Chrétien standoff was rising in direct proportion to the number of incoming-message beeps on BlackBerries. Mid-afternoon on Sunday, while Mr. Martin was driving back to Ottawa from Montreal and learning of the coming cabinet shuffle on the car radio, a cry rang out across cyberspace: "Use PIN! Use PIN!" That's personal identification number, for those unfamiliar with BlackBerry-ese. When BlackBerry owners talk PIN to PIN, they can bypass their normal e-mail servers, using a communication channel that is believed to be more secure, more impervious to hackers. These days around Parliament Hill, giving someone your PIN has high- school-like connotations -- it says that you plan to be a trusted and familiar BlackBerry correspondent. ... end clip ... See URL above for full article. ^ ^ ^ ^ Steven L. Clift - W: http://www.publicus.net Minneapolis - - - E: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Minnesota - - - - - T: +1.612.822.8667 USA - - - - - - - ICQ: 13789183 *** Please send submissions to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** To subscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** Message body: SUB DO-WIRE *** *** To unsubscribe instead, write: UNSUB DO-WIRE *** *** Please forward this post to others and encourage *** *** them to subscribe to the free DO-WIRE service. ***
