[ti:UAE, Other Nations Target BlackBerry for Access to User Information] [ar:Steve Ember] [al:Economics Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English [00:03.15]Economics Report. [00:04.99]BlackBerry service [00:06.94]is facing limits or bans [00:09.13]in some countries [00:10.93]over the issue of government [00:13.52]access to information [00:15.12]on its network. [00:16.81]Research in Motion, or RIM, [00:21.21]based in Waterloo, Canada, [00:23.01]makes BlackBerry [00:24.55]communications devices. [00:25.99]They run on the company's [00:28.43]network and secure software. [00:30.92]BlackBerry has forty-six [00:34.01]million users worldwide. [00:36.40]This week, [00:37.99]the United Arab Emirates [00:40.18]announced it would block [00:41.67]BlackBerry e-mail, web browsing [00:44.41]and instant messenger services [00:47.15]on October eleventh. [00:49.15]The UAE says the services [00:52.38]are a threat to national security [00:55.27]because government officials [00:57.75]cannot access or monitor [01:00.49]users' information. [01:02.73]Then, Saudi Arabia said [01:05.88]it would block BlackBerry service [01:08.27]this week. [01:09.27]The Saudi government [01:11.31]told the country's [01:12.36]three mobile phone operators [01:14.94]to stop BlackBerry service [01:17.38]for businesses [01:18.93]and individuals this Friday. [01:22.12]The Saudi Communications [01:24.16]and Information Technology Commission [01:27.59]did not say what services [01:29.88]would be blocked. [01:31.38]These moves renew concern [01:34.51]among some people about efforts [01:37.25]by the UAE and Saudi Arabia [01:40.78]to control the flow of information. [01:43.52]Both countries have banned [01:46.56]some forms of media seen [01:49.34]as harming national security. [01:52.53]The ban in the UAE could affect [01:56.11] half a million BlackBerry users [02:00.36]while Saudi Arabia has about [02:03.30]seven hundred thousand users. [02:06.03]Kuwait and Lebanon are also said [02:09.62]to be considering restrictions. [02:12.25]But Middle Eastern countries [02:14.89]are not the only ones [02:16.48]seeking greater access [02:18.47]to BlackBerry information. [02:20.41]India and China are among [02:24.00]other countries also doing so. [02:26.59]Governments, big corporations [02:29.97]and individuals use BlackBerry devices [02:33.80]because they are highly secure. [02:37.09]Users' communications are sent [02:40.57]to servers overseas, mostly in Canada, [02:44.65]using powerful security measures. [02:47.24]RIM says its system is set up [02:51.62]in a way that no one, including RIM, [02:55.50]can access user information. [02:58.39]The company also says it does not matter [03:02.77]where their servers are based. [03:05.25]Communications are made secure [03:08.69]the moment they leave the [03:10.58]BlackBerry device through encryption. [03:13.81]On Thursday, Secretary of State [03:17.40]Hillary Clinton said the United States [03:20.28]will hold talks with the UAE [03:23.47]and other countries [03:25.01]about possible bans [03:27.15]on BlackBerry services. [03:29.29]She said the United States knows [03:32.53]there are reasonable [03:34.62]security concerns about the service. [03:37.85]But she added that there is [03:40.59]also a right of free use and access. [03:44.52]And that's the VOA Special English [03:49.00]Economics Report, [03:50.94]written by Mario Ritter. [03:53.13]I'm Steve Ember.