[aiharkness]

The way I read the BlackBerry white paper on the standard BBM, the global key that is hard coded on BlackBerry handsets only applies to BBM communication between BlackBerry handsets. It isn't in use in the case of non-Black devices.

And I'm not really clear on how the global key is used. Obviously it isn't used with the non-BlackBerry devices. Looking at the information on the standard BBM system and BlackBerry Protected, the BlackBerry Protected encryption is on top of the standard BBM TLS + global key. Is the TLS on top of the global key with BBM on BlackBerry handsets, or does TLS when BlackBerry handsets are involved use the key? It isn't clear to me; not yet anyway.

I'll have to get smarter about WhatsApp, just for the education. Just now, looking for information on the global key, I landed on some pages where WhatsApp end-to-end encryption was being discussed. Lots of back and forth over whether it is really end-to-end encryption, the keys and where they are, etc. Just like internet debates everywhere. People seem to pick sides. Hard to discern the truth without lots of digging.