On air: Is Saudi Arabia right to restrict the use of Blackberrys?
| 14:00 UK time, Friday, 6 August 2010
Saudi Arabia says it will suspend BlackBerry services today as concerns spread across the Middle East and parts of Asia over security issues with them. It's not just Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, India and Algeria are all
The U.A.E. says some BlackBerry features operate outside the country's laws, "causing judicial, social and national security concerns." It boils down to governments not being able to monitor communications between Blackberrys on it's messenger service.
The security concerns stem from the when security forces in India captured several BlackBerrys used in the operation. Logs showed that the raid's mastermind controlled events via a BlackBerry server in Pakistan. All the world saw pictures of a young BlackBerry toting gunman with his device in his hand, taking orders from far away.
Mobile phones were also used by the who killed 52 people and injured more than 700 when they blew up tube trains and a bus on 7th July 2005.
Is it a country's right to monitor it's own citizens? Blackberries themselves aren't being banned, so people can still email and text. Isn't a little inconvenience a fair price for your country's security? Or is this another example of a government's attempt to control it's people?
