UAE to curb BlackBerry usage for individuals and small enterprises

(Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates will stop individuals and small businesses accessing the most private data services offered by BlackBerry, a newspaper said, but email and web access will not be disrupted, said the government.

Only businesses with 20 or more subscriptions will be allowed to use high security accounts on the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, which allows for services such as highly secure corporate email, the National newspaper reported on Saturday.

The move comes months after the UAE dropped a threat to suspend BlackBerry services after resolving a dispute over access.

It also coincides with efforts by Arab states to stem rolling pro-democracy revolts, largely organized on social media, that have hit all but two Gulf states, the UAE and Qatar.

Citing a ruling by the UAE's telecoms regulator, The National said that small businesses would still be able to use the BlackBerry Internet Service, which does not rely on private servers, as well as encrypted messaging.

UAE officials had no immediate comment but the telecoms regulator said on its website that BlackBerry services including messenger, email and internet browsing would continue without disruption to all customers.

It said it would clarify "any confusion" in the coming week, but gave no further details including what server the services would use.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion encrypts email messages as they travel between a BlackBerry device and a computer known as BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES).

"Enterprise Services are to be made available to qualifying organizations only and not to private individuals," The National quoted the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority as saying. The paper said the ruling would come into effect on May 1.

Last year, the UAE threatened to suspend BlackBerry Messenger, email and web browser services unless RIM worked out a way to locate its encrypted computer servers in the country so the state could get access to email and other data -- the same access it says the United States, Russia and other states have.

The UAE, which like many Gulf states has little tolerance for dissent, had voiced concerns over its inability to access information legally, citing security and sovereignty issues.

But it resolved its dispute with Canada's RIM days ahead of an October 11 deadline. The UAE gave no details of what RIM had agreed beyond stating that BlackBerry services had become compliant with UAE telecoms regulations.

That dispute and others in the region highlighted growing nervousness at the time over regional security threats, ranging al Qaeda militancy to worries over Iran's nuclear work.

(Writing by Cynthia Johnston; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Source : Reuters


UPDATE :

TRA confirms continuation of all Blackberry services in the UAE

Apr 16, 2011 - 05:13 -
WAM Abu Dhabi, Apr 16th, 2011 (WAM)--The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) said in a statement today it has confirmed the continuation of all Blackberry services in the UAE to both individuals and business customers, including Blackberry messenger, Blackberry email and Blackberry browsing.

It added that any confusion to TRA regulations will be clarified by the TRA with the operators concerned this week.

WAM/MN

Source: WAM
:)

This is because all of the Arab states, are seriously worried about the events in Egypt and Libya. People are tired of their repressive Governments and so the Governments are trying to monitor and/or control and/or remove all of the tools that people could use to try to organize against their Governments.

This is an unfortunate trend in this part of the world.:(

There are some, in our current government, that would like to see this come over to the USA! That will be a sad day for US!:mad:

Originally Posted by lnichols

This is because all of the Arab states, are seriously worried about the events in Egypt and Libya. People are tired of their repressive Governments and so the Governments are trying to monitor and/or control and/or remove all of the tools that people could use to try to organize against their Governments.

Yes, tired of repressive governments, so the governments repress even further. Typical of the philosophy in that part of the world.

Well, my thought was that since the people of UAE are so ridiculously pampered, they wouldn't want to revolt anyway but maybe taking away their CrackBerrys will take it a step to far lol.

There are just some cultures or individuals I cant fully comprehend but aw well, at least they're still able to use their crackberries. Would be awful if the government suddenly bans the device itself lol

Originally Posted by tkwolf

There are just some cultures or individuals I cant fully comprehend but aw well, at least they're still able to use their crackberries. Would be awful if the government suddenly bans the device itself lol

It's not about culture, it's about authoritarian control over citizens of a country, something that transcends all culture.

Originally Posted by Culex316

It's not about culture, it's about authoritarian control over citizens of a country, something that transcends all culture.

maybe i should rephrase that into, "authoritarian countries" lol but i get yout drift

Sadly this has been threatened into legislation in the US but it takes it a step further. Basically any and all crypto would be required to have a back door that the government can eavesdrop on encrypted conversations because the crypto used today is so good they can't even crack it. Basically, BBs, Skype, VPNs, and other services wouldn't be as secure and it's possible even hackers could find these backdoors, not to mention the abuse potential by the government.