Calling themselves "TeaMp0isoN," the hackers claim they did it because they opposed RIM helping the UK policeforce to identify rioters using their BBM messaging service, writing in a statement to RIM that:
"You Will _NOT_ assist the UK Police because if u do innocent members of the public who were at the wrong place at the wrong time and owned a blackberry will get charged for no reason at all, the Police are looking to arrest as many people as possible to save themselves from embarrassment…. if you do assist the police by giving them chat logs, gps locations, customer information & access to peoples BlackBerryMessengers you will regret it, we have access to your database which includes your employees information; e.g – Addresses, Names, Phone Numbers etc. – now if u assist the police, we _WILL_ make this information public and pass it onto rioters…. do you really want a bunch of angry youths on your employees doorsteps? Think about it…. and don't think that the police will protect your employees, the police can't protect themselves let alone protect others….. if you make the wrong choice your database will be made public, save yourself the embarrassment and make the right choice. don't be a puppet..
p.s – we do not condone in innocent people being attacked in these riots nor do we condone in small businesses being looted, but we are all for the rioters that are engaging in attacks on the police and government…. and before anyone says "the blackberry employees are innocent" no they are not! They are the ones that would be assisting the police."
While other social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook have been used to either help organize riots or merely gloat over their looted goodies, RIM has received much of the blame. This could be attributed to the fact that BBM messages are free and private to send—or simply because 37 per cent of 16 - 24 year olds in the UK own a BlackBerry, according to Ofcom. [Inside BlackBerry via TNW via Techmeme]