14 DAY TRIAL // Bad news for Blackberry fans living in the Emirates. According to a recent UAE (United Arab Emirates) government statement, Blackberry's mobile email and messaging service is operating beyond the country's law. While no direct actions have been taking to ban the Canadian company's services in the Emirates yet, this is the fourth country that issues a negative statement regarding the use of Blackberry technology.
“BlackBerry operates beyond the jurisdiction of national legislation, since it is the only device operating in the UAE that immediately exports its data offshore and is managed by a foreign, commercial organization,” the Government said in a statement on the official news service, WAM.
RIM's email and messaging service has more than 500,000 subscribers in the Emirates, who, according to a recent survey commissioned by WAM, expressed their concerns regarding the safety of their data. Precisely 58% of the respondents said they would be worried if their e-mails were being stored by an independent organization outside the UAE.
UAE's government also said that “we have been working for a long time to resolve these critical issues, with the objective of finding a solution that safeguards our consumers and operates within the boundaries of UAE law”.
All four countries hostile to RIM, India, Kuwait, UAE and Saudi Arabia, have justified their requests for access to BBM network for national security reasons. It's a fact that the Indian authorities complained that they are unable to decipher encrypted data sent on BlackBerry handsets, which were used during the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai. Neither of the countries banned Blackberry's services yet, but threats have been made, the Indian telecommunications ministry also giving RIM's a deadline to provide access to its network.
For the moment RIM declined any comment, but an official statement might be issued soon, as more countries are requesting access to the company's call, email and other data services.