Or the "I told you so" files....see my post TUESDAY AUG 3rd about this lame pissing contest.
RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA—Saudi Arabia and the Canadian makers of the BlackBerry have reached a preliminary deal on granting access to users’ data that will avert a ban on the phone’s messenger service in the kingdom, Saudi officials said Saturday.
The agreement would likely involve placing a BlackBerry server inside the kingdom to allow the government to monitor messages and allay official fears the service could be used for criminal purposes, the telecom regulatory officials said.
Bandar al-Mohammed, an official at the Saudi Communications and Information Technology Commission, told The Associated Press that BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. (TSX:RIM) has expressed its “intention ... to place a server inside Saudi Arabia.”
That will guarantee the kingdom’s ability to see communications and data exchanged on BlackBerry handsets, he said. Al-Mohammed said talks were ongoing and declined to provide more details pending an announcement, which he said was expected soon.
The deal could have wide-ranging implications for several other countries, including India and the United Arab Emirates, which have expressed similar concerns over how RIM handles data.
Saudi security officials fear the service could be used by militant groups to avoid detection. The kingdom has been waging a crackdown for years against Al Qaeda-linked extremists. The country also enforces heavy policing of the Internet, blocking sites both for political content and for obscenities.
“Whatever Saudi Arabia does will be followed by other countries in the region,” said John Sfakianakis, a BlackBerry user who is chief economist at the Riyadh-based Banque Saudi Fransi-Credit Agricole Group.
“RIM is quite smart. They’re seeing this is a very lucrative market. They don’t want to take themselves out of this market,” he added.
A second Saudi regulatory official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the details of the deal, said tests were now underway to determine how to install a BlackBerry server inside the country.
RIM representatives did not immediately return messages seeking confirmation.
The Canadian company issued a statement last Tuesday denying it has given some governments access to BlackBerry data.
