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BlackBerry Backlash Spreads to Lebanon
Lebanon on Thursday became the latest Middle East state to voice security fears over BlackBerry smartphones, as the United States stepped in to the growing row over the popular devices.
Saudi Arabia is to suspend BlackBerry services on Friday after the Canadian manufacturers failed to meet its demands, while the United Arab Emirates announced at the weekend that its own ban will take effect from Oct. 11.
India is also mulling a similar move.
As the row spread, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the United States and the UAE would soon hold talks on the Gulf business hub’s halting of BlackBerry messenger, web browsing and email services.
“We are taking time to consult and analyze the full the range of interests and issues at stake because we know that there is a legitimate security concern,” Ms. Clinton told reporters in Washington.
But she said there was also a “legitimate right of free use and access” and added that the United States was also working with unspecified other countries on the issue.
Canada is also working to help RIM on the pending BlackBerry ban, Trade Minister Peter Van Loan said Thursday. Ottawa is concerned about the BlackBerry ban and its broader implications, he said.
The row centres on concerns that BlackBerry’s encrypted services — which involve data being routed through secure servers in Canada where manufacturer Research in Motion is based — could be used by militants or criminals.
In Beirut, the chairman of Lebanon’s telecommunications regulator said Thursday it would assess concerns linked to the BlackBerry after the arrest of several telecoms employees suspected of spying for Israel.
“We need to make an arrangement with BlackBerry or come to an understanding with them that satisfies law enforcement concerns,” Imad Hoballah told AFP, adding that it planned to start talks with RIM next week.
Mr. Hoballah added that the move was not a reaction to the Saudi and UAE decisions.
Lebanon has arrested three suspects over the past month in an expanding probe into an alleged network of Israeli spies employed in its telecoms sector.
In conservative and highly security-conscious Saudi Arabia, BlackBerry users had access to services for what could be a final day — but many people welcomed the ban, saying the devices are corrupting the nation’s youth.
“My daughter collapsed once… She reads every SMS she receives and even replies to them late at night,” a woman named as Um Aisha was quoted as telling the Arab News.
The newspaper said an online survey of 331 people found 178 people opposed to the Saudi ban and 153 supporting it.
Saudi Arabia’s Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) said on Tuesday that it has ordered the kingdom’s three mobile phone providers to block BlackBerry services or face a US$1.3-million fine.
The normally tech-savvy UAE, which was the first to announce a BlackBerry ban, has said its decision to ban BlackBerry services from October is final, though adding that it remains open to an “acceptable, regulatory-compliant solution.”
But a spokeswoman for RIM, quoted in Abu Dhabi’s The National newspaper, said the Torch version of the phone, due for release next week in the United States, will be available in the UAE from October.
“It’s business as usual for us,” the newspaper quoted her as saying.
Elsewhere in the Middle East, Bahrain’s mobile provider Batelco said it already has alternative plans in case Bahrain imposes a ban, while VIVA Telecom in Kuwait said it would not block any BlackBerry services.
India is mulling restrictions, but Indonesia on Thursday denied it was considering banning BlackBerry services, although it did not rule it out.
RIM founder and co-chief executive Mike Lazaridis has told The New York Times that allowing governments to monitor messages would imperil the firm’s ties with customers, including major corporations and law enforcement agencies.
While the popularity of Apple’s iPhone has soared because of its games, social networking, video watching and applications, BlackBerry has remained a favourite for business people seeking secure communications.
Agence France-Presse with file from Reuters