Saudi ban to affect only BlackBerry Messenger

Customers test the new BlackBerry Torch 9800 smartphone after it was introduced at a news conference in New York on Tuesday. With some of the key features of the BlackBerry soon to be banned in the Kingdom, enthusiasm by local customers for BlackBerry products is said to have dimmed. (Reuters)

By AGENCIES

RIYADH: A ban on BlackBerry in Saudi Arabia will affect only its BlackBerry Messenger text messaging service but an Aug. 6 deadline for its enforcement is final, a spokesman for the telecommunications regulator told Reuters on Wednesday.

"(The ban) is only for the Messenger. Negotiations are still going on, the deadline is final," said Sultan Al-Malik from the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC).

CITC said Tuesday it had informed the Kingdom's three mobile operators of a ban on a BlackBerry service, without specifying which one.

The maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, Research In Motion (RIM), is facing mounting demands from governments around the world for access to its vaunted encryption system on national security grounds.

Security officials in India, a giant growth market for mobile communications, warned the service would be halted if the company failed to meet its concerns, a newspaper reported. An Indian government source told Reuters that RIM had proposed to share some details of its BlackBerry services but security agencies were demanding full access to a messaging service it fears could be misused by militants.

The company said Wednesday it has never provided anything unique to the government of one country and cannot accommodate any request for a copy of a customer's encryption key.

Mike Lazaridis, founder and co-chief executive of RIM, told The New York Times that allowing governments to monitor messages on the BlackBerry networks would imperil the firm's relationships with customers, including major corporations and law enforcement agencies.

"We're not going to compromise that," Lazaridis said. "That's what's made BlackBerry the number one solution worldwide." Lazaridis said the encryption causing alarm among some governments was used for many legal purposes including e-commerce transactions, teleconferencing and electronic money transfers.

"If you were to ban strong encryption, you would shut down corporations, business, commerce, banking and the Internet," he said. "Effectively, you'd shut it all down. That's not likely going to happen."

The United Arab Emirates, which plans a ban on BlackBerry Messenger, e-mail and Web browser services from October, said RIM is flouting its regulations. It maintains the planned suspension follows three years of discussions with the company.

The UAE regulator plans no furthers talks with RIM and has told the company to comply by October or be cut off.

Comments

ANIRUDH

Report abuse
Soon people in UAE and KSA will find ways to circumvent the ban.

ADNAN ARIF

Report abuse
I FELL REALLY BAD FOR ME AND OTHER BLACKBERRY USERES. ITS VERY BAD ACT BY CITC.
Post your comment

required

required (email will never be displayed)

Please enter the following characters in the box provided (case sensitive). This helps us prevent automated programs from creating accounts and sending spam.

All comments are subject to approval

Terms and conditions

Latest comments