The ban on BlackBerry, encrypted too, lies in the Gulf

Saudi Arabia has suspended the BlackBerry service, according to the UAE, the Gulf countries demanding to watch multimedia phones from the Canadian manufacturer RIM, which replicates grant any waiver of its highly secure encryption system.

Wednesday evening, an official of one of three operators Saudi told AFP they were exposed to a fine of U.S. $ 1.3 million if they do not comply with the decision of the Saudi telecommunications regulator.

"Operators will comply with the decision (the regulator) for those who do not do so must pay a fine of five million Saudi riyals (1.3 million USD)," the official said under cover of anonymity.

The Commission for Communications Technology and Information (CITC) announced late Tuesday had ordered the operators to suspend services for BlackBerry, the Canadian manufacturer of multifunction phones, Research In Motion (RIM), has not accepted to modify its aircraft to "comply with regulatory requirements.

The CITC has not specified what "requirements" does not satisfy the BlackBerry, but not following in the UAE, Gulf Business Centre, who decided Sunday to suspend from the October 11 key telephone services multifunction, which would raise security issues.

These include instant messaging services, email and web browsing.

The decision of Emirates is "final", said on Wednesday an official at the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) said in a statement, but the Director General of TRA, Mohammed al-Ghanem has said that his agency "remains open to Discussions for a solution acceptable "by both parties.

Emirates Saudi Arabia as censor Internet access, including sites with pornographic or nude images, and some political sites.

However, devices from RIM are the experts as a level of data encryption than most smartphones, making it very difficult to monitor their users.

"The encryption is so strong that no one knows the monitor. They have a level of security so good that some countries will not only be able to control them", points out John Hering, head of the American Society of Safety telecom Lookout .

The Indian government, referring also to matters of national security and the challenge of a "monitoring the BlackBerry, has also recently threatened to bar certain services of RIM's devices in his country one of the juiciest telecom markets the world.

But while media reports asserted that RIM would allow Indian intelligence agencies to read encrypted messages to users in India, a spokesman for the manufacturer on Wednesday denied any agreement to that effect.

"We hope to reach a solution (with India). But there can be no compromise on safety for our customers' communication," he told AFP Gayakwad Satchi.

RIM has sometimes been accused of special arrangements with some countries and the UAE Ambassador to Washington, Youssef al-Otaibi, had assured that his country awaited RIM that the same respect the "legal and regulatory framework that the manufacturer grants the U.S. government and other governments. "

But RIM has denied Tuesday that any privileges granted to some countries, saying in a statement "to cooperate with all governments with the same consistency in the standards (safety) and the same degree of respect."

The BlackBerry is used by about 500,000 people in the UAE and 700,000 in Saudi Arabia, two countries representing in aggregate approximately 2.6% of telephone users in the world. Approximately one million devices would be in service in India.