RIM co-operates with the United Arab Emirates

Gulfnews.com reports that, according to the co-CEO of Canadian BlackBerry vendor Research in Motion (RIM), Jim Balsillie, RIM has signed an agreement with the United Arab Emirates' Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA). The deal is reportedly intended to improve the country's e-government services. No details about the content of the agreement have become available.

The UAE had threatened to shut down the BlackBerry service on the 11th of October, a threat RIM has reportedly been able to neutralise with this agreement. In the article, the director general of the UAE's Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, Mohamed Al Ghanim, was quoted to have said that BlackBerry is now "in compliance" with local rules and regulations. The site also reports speculations from security experts that RIM now has a Network Operating Center (NOC) in the UAE.

However, this seems unlikely. RIM has stressed that it has no access to the encrypted data sent between BlackBerry devices and Enterprise Servers, regardless of where the NOCs are located. It is more likely that RIM will support the TRA with the targeted monitoring of individual users of the BlackBerry Internet Service and of BlackBerry Messenger. Both services operate without end-to-end encryption.

See also:

• Two month breathing space for Indian BlackBerry users, a report from The H.
• RIM offers Indian government surveillance tools, a report from The H.
• BlackBerry security: Is RIM making concessions to India?, a report from The H.

(crve)