Dubai's Police Chief Calls BlackBerry a Spy Tool

crimeandpunishment writes "Does the battle over the Blackberry ban in the United Arab Emirates have its roots in a spy story? Dubai's police chief says concern over espionage (specifically, by the US and Israel) led to the decision to limit BlackBerry services. The UAE says it will block BlackBerry email, messaging, and web services on October 11th unless it gets access to encrypted data. Comments by Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim are often seen as reflecting the views of Dubai's leadership, and would appear to indicate a very hard line in talks with Research in Motion."

Comments

Re:To put it this way

[Dunbal]

Now, would anybody be surprised or particularly upset if the US demanded access to encrypted communications from that private company or threaten to lose the US market if they don't comply?

      The US is full of sheep, making your argument a moot point. Considering what has been done and what the government has gotten away with in the past 10 years or so, apparently only a not very vocal minority would be upset at all. Most people would support more government spying because ZOMG TERRORISTS!