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

We're worried you're spys because

[meerling]

we can't read your encrypted messages and are too stupid or too lazy to crack them ourselves, so won't you please give us the golden master keys to the kingdom?

Re:Politically prompted?

[allaunjsilverfox2]

Which seems more likely, A guy "suddenly" having a opinion on a device thats understood worldwide. Or that he just wants someone above him to notice him? And I have no problem with being snooped on. Privacy is a illusion, one that I gladly hide behind. But I am not deluded into thinking that it's more then a paper tiger. If governments TRULY wanted access, they would. It doesn't take much to torture a person.