Blackberry services in the UAE to be suspended soon

elchebib

Blackberry services to be suspended starting Oct. 11 in the UAE...

What do you guys think?

http://www.ameinfo.com/239080.html

Sucks big time in my opinion.....

elchebib

Turns out KSA will do that too by the end of the month and India are on their way too......

babum

its a shame to have such a great service taken away from users. But will this affect users in roaming or just UAE citizens?

samer

Can anybody elaborate as to why they actually blocked it? They're not getting enough money out of it? Or they're not able to properly control it? (i.e., censorship?)

babum

i think they said in the article that was because they couldn't control it properly, but it would be interesting to know more about this issue.

rolf

samer wroteCan anybody elaborate as to why they actually blocked it? They're not getting enough money out of it? Or they're not able to properly control it? (i.e., censorship?)

AFAIK it's an issue with BB sending its data through their oversea servers, in an encrypted form.
So they are claiming it's a security issue, since the government doesn't have the means to intercept and control communications.
There might also be financial concerns (as you mentioned), eg. not being able to block VOIP.

babum

here is also other article from bloomberg stating this problem.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-01/blackberry-messenger-web-browsing-to-be-suspended-in-u-a-e-from-oct-11.html

besides all the restrictions that may face RIM in these four countries, it kinda makes me happy to know that messages that go through blackberry are encrypted enough so my privacy and the privacy of all users is protected.

rolf

babum wrotebesides all the restrictions that may face RIM in these four countries, it kinda makes me happy to know that messages that go through blackberry are encrypted enough so my privacy and the privacy of all users is protected.

Me too :) It made me reconsider the whole Blackberry thing. I thought the whole BB phenomenon was ridiculous, just a marketing, name and image thing. But now, if "Research in Motion" (the creators of BB) are really that serious about safeguarding the privacy of their users, then I may be a future Blackberry user and supporter.

nuclearcat

I think BB share info only with FBI and CIA :-D
Sure UAE, Indian and other authorities not so happy about that.
If you want security for yourself - use various opensource solutions

babum

that's what the french government tried to do with its high ranking politicians in 2007:

French government officials have been ordered not to use handheld Blackberry devices amid fears that foreigners could spy on them, reports say.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6221146.stm

EddieEC

That's when other push email and messaging solutions. My dad might try to get "Seven" to these countries. ^.^

babum

Does anyone know if roaming users would be affected by this matter?

crazy

They will reach an agreement with RIM like india did.

elchebib

babum wroteDoes anyone know if roaming users would be affected by this matter?

Yes, roaming users will be affected as well.

wollyka

I bet the issue will be risen in Lebanon too and the service will be blocked..

EddieEC

I don't they'll do that here in Lebanon. Not soon anyways.

Samer99

I am not understanding! :(

If they are ending Blackberry services because they are encrypted (thus they can not do their ugly surveillance and censorship job), then why they do not block Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail which are also encrypted, or why they do not block all HTTPS pages... or why they do not declare war on VPN protocols...

There are tons of encrypted communications on the Internet that the government can not monitor or censor its content, so my question is why they targeted Blackberry specifically?

lorcan32

I live int he UAE and i have a friend in Etisalat a telecoms company in the UAE and he said they want to block the Blackberry service because they have absolutely not control over it so users can access any site the want including the ones blocked by the government. Also because it is encrypted so and there has been a cases of people using the Blackberry as means for conducting illegal activities. Honestly i don't know how long it will last because there are over 300,000 Blackberry users in the UAE and since the UAE is business centered the service is used often.

elchebib

Samer99 wroteI am not understanding! :(

If they are ending Blackberry services because they are encrypted (thus they can not do their ugly surveillance and censorship job), then why they do not block Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail which are also encrypted, or why they do not block all HTTPS pages... or why they do not declare war on VPN protocols...

There are tons of encrypted communications on the Internet that the government can not monitor or censor its content, so my question is why they targeted Blackberry specifically?

Blackberry services (email, internet access, messenger) are all super encrypted and all these information pass through the servers located overseas. For the UAE to need any of those information, if the case arises, will be a big hassle since they have no jurisdiction in the area where the servers are located. So, for example, if they need to monitor a specific individual or organization using Blackberry services, all of the individual and organization's communication is encrypted and handled by servers outside the country. Outside the country = no jurisdiction = no monitoring.

@lorcan32: actually, they're more than 500,000 Blackberry users in the UAE. My guess is they'll figure something out eventually before Oct. 11.

elchebib

This is getting more interesting:

http://www.buzzbox.com/top/default/preview/rim-ceo-castigates-countries-over-blackberry-ban/?id=3841627&topic=ceo%3Ainternet

And Lebanon will be joining them too:

http://www.tayyar.org/Tayyar/News/PoliticalNews/ar-LB/blackberry-lebanon-ed-952778.htm