BlackBerry Security Stance Sows Anxiety

The 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai heightened concerns in India over the government's inability to eavesdrop on encrypted communications. In the United Arab Emirates, similar concerns escalated this year after a Palestinian operative was killed in a hotel in Dubai, possibly by a team from the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency.

In both countries, those concerns have crystallized into a battle with Research In Motion, the Canadian maker of BlackBerry smartphones, over whether and how their governments can gain access to messages that flow over the BlackBerry network. And the dispute has put a spotlight on the challenges faced by many governments in monitoring communications services with global reach. RIM officials flatly denied last week that the company had cut deals with certain countries to grant authorities special access to the BlackBerry system. They also said RIM would not compromise the security of its system. At the same time, RIM says it complies with regulatory requirements around the world. But the company, which is generally known for its secrecy, has declined to provide details on its discussions with governments or to explain how it complies with laws around the world that require communications companies to grant government agencies access to their systems for lawful intercepts.

This has kept alive suspicions in some foreign capitals and among computer security experts in the United States that RIM has made concessions to some countries.