Saudi Arabia’s ban on BlackBerry Internet Services (BIS) is due to start today, while Indonesia, India, Lebanon, Kuwait and the UAE have all threatened to ban it in the near future as well, unless RIM negotiates with the governments’ demands. Well, RIM does have advocates all over the world defending its security and privacy, and that includes the US government, many of whose officials and diplomats use BlackBerry devices, or more importantly, use BlackBerry devices overseas in above-mentioned questions.
To that end, Hillary Rodham Clinton, or, the Secretary of State in the current US administration, has said that they will be actively working to figure out a compromise between RIM and the countries in question, and has released the following statement: “We are taking time to consult and analyze the full range of interests and issues at stake because we know that there is a legitimate security concern, but there’s also a legitimate right of free use and access.”
Another official from the State Department added that they will be discussing things with the countries in question “to understand the security concerns and see if we can’t work collaboratively to find solutions. If some of these countries follow through on what they’ve announced it would have an impact on the U.S. government and our diplomats operating in different countries. So we are directly affected by what has been suggested. But, obviously, we know that both American businessmen, American citizens traveling abroad, the citizens of other countries would be affected as well.”
Well, it was just a matter of time that the Canadian business phone manufacturer, Research In Motion, got some official backing, and it certainly wasn’t Canada upholding its prodigal son’s interests.