Governments Are Not Satisfied

It is quite clear why governments all over the world are not particularly happy with  RIM’s advancements in encryption technology. As while common users want freedom, authorities want more control and domination. And the best instrument of control is managing and owning information. But still western countries seem to fight that drive for control afraid of massive outburst of indignation when some basic freedoms are infringed. At the same time eastern governments are not limited  with such considerations so the consequences are to follow.

 The United Arab Emirates have announced they would ban users of BlackBerry mobile phones from using email, instant-messaging and web-browsing services. Some other Eastern countries seem to follow the path among which Saudi Arabia and India.

The major concern which threatens governments is the renowned encryption Blackberry boasts of which interferes law-enforcement establishments from monitoring the transmitted data. Indian government’s internal security and intelligence services are particularly preoccupied of their own inability to break the encryption of the device. The pretext for such a necessity is as always constant terrorist threats from domestic Maoist insurgents and extremist Islamic groups.  The concerns whether the government is able to eavesdrop on encrypted communications were on the rise after the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

 The UAE got concerned this year after a Palestinian operative was killed in a hotel in Dubai, possibly by a team from the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency. In addition, some conservative circles of Muslim states are afraid the encrypted services may bolster illegal relations between men and women which are of great importance in the social agenda.

The countries threatened to cut Blackberry messaging and e-mail services if RIM did not provide the authority representatives with a back-door to  eavesdrop on the company’s customers. To make their claims sound weightier the Persian Gulf states mentioned that they did not want something extraordinary insisting on just the same concessions which have already been made to a range of Western countries. Though RIM denies any allegations of the kind stating it was not and is not going to compromise its security policy  because of some local cases,  it is yet unclear  what the wording that the company complies with laws around the world that require communications companies to grant government agencies access to their systems for lawful intercepts means.  The company itself refused to comment on the topic.