I just got wind that the United Arab Emirates is about to ban the Blackberry via a posting on the Telecommunication Regulation Authority’s website. Here’s their reasoning:
All Blackberry services fall within the UAE regulatory framework developed by the TRA since 2007, however because of Blackberry’s technical configuration, some Blackberry services operate beyond the enforcement these regulations.
Blackberry data is immediately exported off-shore, where it is managed by a foreign, commercial organization. Blackberry data services are currently the only data services operating in the UAE where this is the case.
Today’s decision is based on the fact that, in their current form, certain Blackberry services allow users to act without any legal accountability, causing judicial, social and national security concerns for the UAE.
If that sounds familiar, it should. Similar arguments were made by India when they got upset about the fact that they couldn’t see what Blackberry users were doing. This decision takes effect on October 11th, which may give RIM time to make this problem go away. Otherwise, a lot of Blackberry addicts in the Middle East will be going through withdrawal.
UPDATE: It looks like Saudi Arabia has joined the party and banned “Blackberry messaging” according to the Toronto Star. The ban will start “later this month.”
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This entry was posted on August 1, 2010 at 11:31 am and is filed under Commentary with tags RIM, UAE. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Blackberry Services Banned In The UAE [UPDATED]
I just got wind that the United Arab Emirates is about to ban the Blackberry via a posting on the Telecommunication Regulation Authority’s website. Here’s their reasoning:
All Blackberry services fall within the UAE regulatory framework developed by the TRA since 2007, however because of Blackberry’s technical configuration, some Blackberry services operate beyond the enforcement these regulations.
Blackberry data is immediately exported off-shore, where it is managed by a foreign, commercial organization. Blackberry data services are currently the only data services operating in the UAE where this is the case.
Today’s decision is based on the fact that, in their current form, certain Blackberry services allow users to act without any legal accountability, causing judicial, social and national security concerns for the UAE.
If that sounds familiar, it should. Similar arguments were made by India when they got upset about the fact that they couldn’t see what Blackberry users were doing. This decision takes effect on October 11th, which may give RIM time to make this problem go away. Otherwise, a lot of Blackberry addicts in the Middle East will be going through withdrawal.
UPDATE: It looks like Saudi Arabia has joined the party and banned “Blackberry messaging” according to the Toronto Star. The ban will start “later this month.”
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This entry was posted on August 1, 2010 at 11:31 am and is filed under Commentary with tags RIM, UAE. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.