i should be working (but i'm fixing my computer).

No more Blackberries for me.  Period.

...

My blackberry web browser quit working.  This caused  me to call Verizon tech support to find out why.  I was told that there was nothing wrong with my connection, so my company IT must have shut it off.

WHAT????

Yes -- I was further informed that the company IT dept. has complete control over my Blackberry, can shut it off, can completely wipe the data, etc.

WHAT???

(I would hate to know what "etc." is.  I imagine it goes something like, "insert your worst fear here _______.")

Now I suppose if this were a company issued Blackberry I might be ok with that.  Possibly.  And then again, probably not, especially if no one told me.

But this is not a company issued Blackberry.  It is presumably MY BLACKBERRY, or at least that is what I had nominally assumed, considering I picked it out, paid for it, set  it up, maintain it ...

Because a few years back I purchased a Blackberry as the only "smart phone" I could obtain at the moment that did not have a camera.  As I have noted before, the court system does not allow me to show up at court with a camera phone, so I am prohibited by the government from using decent technology due to bureaucratic paranoia.

Well, I suppose if I threw enough money at the problem, I could have my "use at court" phone and my "use  everywhere else" phone, but I'm too poor for that.  So, I blame the gov't for my repressively obsolete technology.

Now, at the time I purchased my blackberry I was entirely self-employed.  Sometime later I started working for a firm that had a Blackberry Enterprise Server.  This seemed cool -- hook up with the BES and make my job easier, right?

The first troubling thing I noticed was that it sucked my entire personal contact list up onto the Exchange Server.  WTF?  Oh, well.

And that was that, so we now merrily skip forward many months.  I  now have my second blackberry, still on the BES but still my personal cell phone that I pay for and for which I maintain the data plan at my own expense.

Oddly, one day I find that I can't send and receive to the company server -- which creates some difficulties regarding a "missing client" situation.  I assume it is some glitch, an anamoly and think nothing more about it.

UNTIL  ... I casually try to do a google search on the Blackberry.  And, it informs me that I cannot connect to the network.  WTF2?  I am receiving personal email, I have an excellent connection, I can even  tether the phone to  my computer.

I just can't browse the web.  What else can't I do?  Oh, yeah, that little problem with the BES -- I still am not receiving company email.

And then everything is revealed.  Per the aforementioend tech support call.  "My" IT Administrator has complete control over my cell phone.  I do not have control over my cell phone.  The administrator can cut off services.  The administrator can wipe the phone remotely.

Are you kidding me???

Sooo ... I check with IT.  The explanation is innocent enough: As blogged here, I had asked to connect my iPod Touch to the Enterprise Server.  This lead the IT guy to (erroneously) assume I had replaced the Blackberry with an iPhone -- and he deleted my Blackberry connection from the system.

So, problem solved.  But wait a minute!

Let's roll back to "Are you kidding me???"

As I say, no more Blackberries for me.

The problem with reliance on technology is that someone else controls the on/off switch.

And that's very scary.

Welcome to the 21st Century, I guess..