The United Arab Emirates is planning to suspend the use of BlackBerry communication services from October, citing national security concerns.
The UAE regulator decided BlackBerry services including email and instant messaging use encrypted networks that are difficult for the Government to monitor. As a result, it said “certain BlackBerry services allow users to act without any legal accountability, causing judicial, social and national security concerns for the UAE”.
The suspension will begin on 11 October. Discussions have been held between the UAE and Research In Motion, which manufactures BlackBerry handsets, but no agreement was made.
The ban comes at a bad time for RIM. The company is reportedly preparing to launch a new touchscreen handset to rival the iPhone, and a tablet device is expected come November.
The UAE has about half a million BlackBerry users, most of whom operate in the business and tourism district. The decision is set to frustrate the many thousands of executives and businesses operating in the region.
Saudi Arabia is expected to join the ban.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
COMMENTS
SmartCompany is committed to hosting lively discussions. Help us keep the conversation useful, interesting and welcoming. We aim to publish comments quickly in the interest of promoting robust conversation, but we’re a small team and we deploy filters to protect against legal risk. Occasionally your comment may be held up while it is being reviewed, but we’re working as fast as we can to keep the conversation rolling.
The SmartCompany comment section is members-only content. Please subscribe to leave a comment.
The SmartCompany comment section is members-only content. Please login to leave a comment.