RIM agrees to censor Kuwait porn sites
p2pnet view Mobiles | Politics:- Canada’s Research in Motion (RIM), maker of the ubiquitous Blackberry, has agreed to censor pornographic sites in Kuwait, but it doesn’t need to “suspend services”, Reuters has local newspaper al-Jarida saying.
“RIM has given ‘initial approval’ to block 3,000 porn sites at the request of Kuwait’s communications ministry”, says the story, “quoting a source it did not identify by name”, going on >>>
The BlackBerry’s coveted secrecy has come under scrutiny since Sunday, when the United Arab Emirates announced plans to ban BlackBerry Messenger, email and Web browser services from October 11.
The Gulf state cited national security and other concerns and said the move followed three years of unsuccessful negotiations with RIM.
Industry sources said Saudi Arabia had ordered local telecom companies to freeze BlackBerry Messenger from this month.
Combined, the Gulf states and India represent more than 2 million BlackBerry users, or about 5 percent of the 41 million devices in service worldwide.
RIM asked the ministry to give it until the end of the year to implement the block, says Reuters.
“Observers said that in many ways RIM is the victim of its own success”, says the Telegraph, continuing >>>
The company has such secure encryption systems that it has got countries rattled. But they also said that it was concerning for technology companies that the countries with the largest growth potential — fast-developing nations in Asia and the Middle East — also tend to have the most security-conscious governments.
In a statement RIM said it respects the “regulatory requirements of government” and the “security and privacy needs” of corporations and consumers, says the story, adding it “assures its customers that it is committed to continue delivering highly secure and innovative products that satisfy the needs of both customers and governments”.
… and identi.ca
Reuters – Kuwait asks BlackBerry maker to block porn: report, August 3, 2010
Telegraph – Future is no longer so sweet for BlackBerry, August 3, 2010
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August 3rd, 2010 at 11:45 pm
Regarding the dirt-hole country threats to ban the BB because it uses encryption, I wonder if RIM knuckled under and handed over some encryption keys to these gov’ts? It would be disgusting if they did that.
It would probably be more profitable for them to tell these authoritarian regimes to go pound sand, and let those gov’ts try to ban the product. A banning would make news and generate more sales in other more lucrative markets. If a gov’t wants to ban it, then it’s the responsibility of the citizens of that country to do something about their crackpot rulers. It is not the responsibility of RIM to appease gov’ts by flushing the human right of privacy down the toilet.
August 4th, 2010 at 1:05 am
If the US government was not able to crack or decode BB encrypted messages, they would not allow it to operate in the US. The fact that BB operates at an encryption level that is accessible for certain governments (US and Canada) and not others is the problem.
The other issue is that gullible (and bigoted) readers like the above message beleive that their BB is secure from governmnent spying. It is not. US laws mandate that all telecommunication companies provide tapping capabilities.
Other countries need to move against BB so it complies with their laws.