BlackBerry Services To Be Halted In UAE

WrongSizeGlass writes "Bloomberg is reporting RIM's BlackBerry Messenger, e-mail and Web browsing services will be suspended in the United Arab Emirates, the Middle East's business hub, starting October 11th due to security concerns. RIM faces similar restrictions in India. The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority said in a statement on state-run Emirates News Agency, '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.' A senior Indian government official said, 'Though RIM has been fully cooperating ever since the matter was taken up with it in 2008, reports of the company's move to set up a server in China forced us to look at it in a different way.'"

Comments

The UAE is partially correct.

[sethstorm]

The UAE's telecoms regulator said the move had 'nothing to do with censorship' ...except where the monitoring leads to censorship. That is, you can say all you want on the phone, but the censorship would be done off the network.

Sounds like they're bitter about being caught with their hands in the cookie jar with the Etisalat attempt.

Re:The UAE is partially correct.

[h4rm0ny]

Everything in UAE is either to do with censorship, or to do with money. Or both. I submitted this story myself earlier. Note that there's also coverage on this from the BBC here. Note that the TRA (the UAE's telecom regulatory agency) last year sent messages to Blackberry owners in the country instructing them to install an update which would improve performance. Not only did it not improve performance (actually caused crashes and shortened battery life for a reason you'll see in a second), but it actually forwarded received messages onto the goverment. Slashdot covered it last year here.
They're a scummy government. Blackberries are fairly popular in UAE (the lack of snooping is actually a plus, btw) and by threatening to make them illegal the government there is trying to force RIM who make them to hand over encryption keys or open up access to its customers in some other manner. If RIM have any sense, and I'm sure they have, they'll call TRA's bluff.

UAE's government ain't that nice and the country is riddled with corruption and duplicity. Hell, this is the country where all the shops sell MP5 players. Why? Because they're newer than MP3 players. I try to find that funny but after a ten minute argument with someone from there who kept insisting his device was superior because "yeah, but mine's an MP5 player", I just lost the humour along the way, somewhere. UAE also does its best to fuck up Skype and any other VoIP services. (They don't do a very effective job, btw.)

Re:The UAE is partially correct.

[tomhudson]

So take a marker and convert the '3' in your mp3 player to an '8'. Certainly an mp8 player's got to be WAY better than an \mp5\ player.

Re:The UAE is partially correct.

[Dolphinzilla]

while I don't personally know that this goes on the UAE (probably) I do know that they are a pretty lenient Middle Eastern society - I have seen plenty of women in thongs on the beaches and plenty of local women in the malls dressed in standard western style (mini skirts, high heals, etc..), I've also seen groups of women with some in skirts and some fully covered in traditional fashion. You will never see that kind of stuff in Saudi or Jordan etc..

For those of you who don't speak bullshit

[Dyinobal]

'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.'

This roughly translates to this.

The BlackBerry lets you have the possibility of expressing nonofficial opinions regarding the government/state/religion and our secret police force may not be able to find you and break your fucking shins and toss you in a dungeon until you realize the error of your ways and die.

Re:For those of you who don't speak bullshit

[h4rm0ny]

Amazing how an entire society seemingly hangs by the flimsy thread of a rogue blackberry user... Ban these dangerous devices like nuclear and biological weapons, for they will be the fall of society!

Weapons are a threat to people. Information is a threat to governments.

Re:For those of you who don't speak bullshit

[CdBee]

It actually shows some credit to RIM that they are willing to lose customers rather than submit to the 'national security concerns' of a nation that in many ways has a long way to go, developmentally.

"Security Concerns"

[Nimloth]

I read this and thought: "really? security concerns over the BlackBerry network?". Then I figured out that the "security concerns" were that it is too secure for them because they like to reserve the right to eaves drop and lay the smackdown when they feel appropriate.

I Can recall another issue with Blackberry

[ControlsGeek]

Wasn't Barrack Obama's right to keep his Blackberry after he became President questioned because the server was hosted in Waterloo Ontario, at Blackberry's headquarters in Canada ? Blackberry's elliptical curve encryption algorithm ( formerly from Certicom) must be pretty tight.

Re:I Can recall another issue with Blackberry

[Anonymous Coward]

No it was questioned because of the concern that some people would have a direct line to the president and others won't, thereby creating a situation of undue influence. I don't remember completely but I think one of the restrictions placed on his use is that it is only family and his staff that he can contact with the phone.

Re:I Can recall another issue with Blackberry

[icegreentea]

Well, the restrictions really don't matter cause all communications to/from the President must be recorded and be made available. Bush Jr gave up on his personal email (it was an aol account) when he became president cause he didn't want to have to disclose private information. Obama's BB will be under similar restrictions. Whatever BES he's attached to probably has all sorts of ridiculous auditing and filtering stuff turned on for his account. It's very much going to be 'boring' work phone.

Re:I Can recall another issue with Blackberry

[Abcd1234]

Wasn't Barrack Obama's right to keep his Blackberry after he became President questioned because the server was hosted in Waterloo Ontario, at Blackberry's headquarters in Canada ?

No, it's because there are records retention requirements in government. Remember Sarah Palin and her personal email account? Same thing goes, here.

Re:What are they afraid of?

[CharlyFoxtrot]

What are they afraid of, some guy might exchange Blackberry PINs with an unmarried woman?

Prince warns S. Arabia of apocalypse

'He warned that the Saudi royal family is no longer able to "impose" itself on people, arguing that deviations in carrying out the religious concepts that make up the basis of the Saudi government "have gotten out of our hands," so that the opposition views our acts as "interfering in people's private life and restricting their liberties."

"If we are wise, we must leave this country to its people, whose dislike for us is increasing," said Prince Turki, advising Saudi officials to escape with their families.'

Re:What are they afraid of?

[h4rm0ny]

and enemies of Israel that they are.

Heh. I like that the House of Saud are such pieces of shit that even pro- and anti- Israel types can agree on their utter contempt for the corrupt oppressive bastards. :)

It's amazing that the people of the US allow their government to keep propping it up. Without the US support, they'd have been overthrown by their people long ago. It's a fucking monarchy in the 21st Century. We should be ashamed as a species.

I've worked in the UAE

[Zocalo]

Just about every Emirati out there has either an iPhone, a Blackberry or both. It's a land of new money run riot, both for the locals and the expats - flaunting what you have, no matter how vulgar the behaviour, is the order of the day and "understated" doesn't appear in the dictionary. RIM's best strategy on this would probably be to refuse to back down and wait for the inevitable shit storm from the Emirati's who are no longer able to send and receive email. Worst case scenario is that they lose a tiny, albeit affluent, market. Big deal.

Saudi too

[Sir_Sri]

Some other places are reporting this as both saudi and the UAE (http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100801/world/ml_emirates_blackberry). Saudi being a somewhat bigger market.

Re:Emerging Rivalry

[tverbeek]

"India has always shown a greater commitment to democracy than China ever has."

That's... an understatement. In many ways, they do it better and with more commitment (e.g. higher voter turn-out) than the West does.

Re:Emerging Rivalry

[Anonymous Coward]

Greater commitment to democracy? India IS a democracy - a full fledged one, from 63 years! They have some flaws, but then which democracy doesn't?

Re:What are they afraid of?

[MoonBuggy]

Maybe the people would form a stable government, and I quite agree that they should be given the best opportunity to do so. There's no reason, though, to believe that US support is the only thing keeping most of the country in the dark ages. There are plenty of African countries that are at least as fucked up as Saudi Arabia without US sponsorship.

Re:Emerging Rivalry

[icegreentea]

BlackBerrys are assembled in Canada, Mexico and Hungary. Most of the parts are manufactured from all across Asia (the low-end batteries are exclusively made in China, nearly all screens are made in Japan). It doesn't really look like that's really going to change in the future. In fact, I really don't know why RIM doesn't push this point more... it'll certainly please those pundits crying about the destruction of North America's manufacturing base. I mean, there's a BlackBerry factory right in Waterloo.

As for India's complaint, the summary is leaving out some important information. Couple years back they pressed on RIM, and RIM relented, agreeing to allow Indian security agencies access to BB comms on request (they have similar arrangements with North American law enforcement and intelligence agencies I imagine). RIM did not agree to setup a local NOC (the server where all BB traffic flows) in India. Lately, RIM agreed to set up a NOC in China (giving Chinese agencies somewhat easier access to BB traffic), in exchange for being able to do business there. India is ticked off cause they wanted the same setup and is now pushing again. It's not a question of India getting access to local BB traffic, its a question of how easy it is for them to get it.

Re:What are they afraid of?

[gtall]

Yep, but let's not delude ourselves into thinking that if only the Saudi Arabian people voted in their own government, that government would turn out to be an enlightened democracy full of minority rights and respect for other religions. Instead, it would be a theocracy and probably worse than Iran's. The only non-gov. organization in that country which could count on the people's support would be the mullahs skulking in their mosques. Their notion of government is Fascist, just like Iran, with the added force of Islam to keep any one with an independent opinion in line. Their first edict after taking power would be to arm Hamas to the teeth in preparation for the next Israel-Islamic war. And they'd do it as soon as they can because they feel they are in competition with the Shi'ites in Iran and their dogs, Hezbollah, to be the leaders of the next "Final Solution" to their Jewish problem. However, the Jews here are a mere football to be used in conflict between the Sunni's and Shi'ites for the soul of Islam.

The problem with centralized control

[DRBivens]

"... services will be suspended"

This, IMHO, is only hinting at the real problem: Blackberry internet services are provided through a central server (BIS or BES) that acts as a proxy; the handheld device doesn't access the HTTP, POP, or IMAP services directly (at least with the provided apps).

RIM's encryption is pretty darned good, but this "server in the middle" method of operation gives some Security folks headaches because of the possibilities for mischief.

While it is very nice for corporate monitoring and control, the downside is that a government can easily shut down BB services by blocking the server. If the BB was a true Internet client, this would not be the case.

 

Re:What are they afraid of?

[Xtifr]

It's a fucking monarchy in the 21st Century. We should be ashamed as a species.

Yeah, damn those British! Er, I mean, damn those Danes! I mean Swedes. I mean Spanish. No, I mean Japanese. Er, the Thai. No, the Tongans. Um...

Hmm, well at least we can all surely agree that removing a monarchy has always improved a country. Look at Russia. No, wait, China. No, Iran. Er....

Oh well, at least the most evil, murderous leaders of the Twentieth Century were all monarchs. Like Hitler and Stalin and Pol Pot and Idi Amin. Uh...

Dammit! As an American, I know you're right; I'm just having a hard time coming up with any evidence to support your statement. But that's ok, as an American, I don't need facts to be right. I just am. God said so. (Yes, I suppose that is the same God who appointed all those kings, why do you ask?) :)

In any case, I just know that Democracy is good. No Democracy has ever produced a leader who invaded Poland, followed by most of the rest of Europe, and then had millions of people put to death simply for their religious or sexual preferences. Oh crap.