Activists bemoan BlackBerry snooping

 

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By Reuters

Posted on 10 Aug 2010 at 08:39

Political activists say they will have to find another way to stay in touch in Gulf states where BlackBerry's messaging services face a ban.

According to campaigners, "social concerns" have been overshadowed by security warnings as governments from India to Algeria pressure Research In Motion for access to encrypted BlackBerry programs, particularly its free Messenger texting service.

Messenger was revolutionary for people here. It awakened them. That's something that won't just disappear.

Research In Motion and Saudi mobile firms are currently testing three servers to send communications and data through Saudi Arabia to address Riyadh's concerns over security. The Saudi regulator has given the three firms until Monday before it proceeds with a threat to cut the BlackBerry's Messenger function for some 700,000 users in the kingdom.

"Messenger was revolutionary for people here," said UAE lawyer and human rights activist Abdel Hamid. "It awakened them. That's something that won't just disappear."

While numbers on those using the encrypted service for activism or simple dissent are hard to establish, activists say such ranks are growing.

"It brought us new people we hadn't reached before. Not everybody uses the internet but everyone uses the phone," said Nabeel Rajab, of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, who says he used his BlackBerry to attract a few thousand online followers.

"When BlackBerry came, I started to get messages criticising the government from people I'd never seen involved in activism. Regular people started discussing taboo subjects," added Ahmed Mansour, a UAE blogger. "It widened the circle of interest."

Cat and mouse

Banning BlackBerry services will intensify their game of cat and mouse with censors, activists say.

UAE users, like those in Saudi, are messaging each other to plot alternatives, including reverting to using proxy servers to evade censors, or anonymous forums and emails until the authorities shut them down.

"There is competition between governments and activists: The governments here ban, and the activists try to break it," said Rajab.

No ban in Oman

While most Gulf states appear to be considering some sort of actions against RIM, Oman says it has no plans to block BlackBerry services.

Offering the services was part of its "philosophy of free market in the sector". Oman's Telecommunications Regulatory Authority said in a statement reported by state news agency ONA.