BlackBerry users in UAE see speech, business concerns

DUBAI (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirate's plan to suspend BlackBerry services in October sparked concern among users in the Gulf Arab state on Sunday over the impact it might have on free speech and on companies which rely on the services.

BlackBerry's Messenger application has spread rapidly in the region but because the data is encrypted and sent to offshore servers, it cannot be monitored locally, making regulators worry it might pose a threat to national security.

"What security risks? Why do so many other countries including the U.S. use BlackBerry? Aren't they worried about their security?" said UAE political analyst Ibtisam al-Qitbi.

"This is a sign we're heading toward a stricter and more conservative regime, whereas the rest of the world is opening up, especially in the information technology field," Qitbi said, adding the move risked hurting the reputation of the UAE.

BlackBerry has about half a million users in the UAE, most of them business executives and expatriates including those in the Gulf's financial hub, Dubai.

But the smartphone has also taken hold among individual local users, primarily because of the Messenger application.

"They knew when they started the BlackBerry service in the UAE that the server would be in Canada and that the information was going to be encrypted," said Ahmed Mansour, a UAE blogger.

"What changed is that the device became extremely popular and people started to express themselves freely in a manner not expected by the authorities in the UAE.

"BlackBerry gave them a new horizon that was not available before. Which is something that authorities would not be happy about, because people recently started to talk about their civil rights and their economic and political rights."

PROTEST UNCOVERED

He said the government was angered last month after word got out that a group of people using Messenger were attempting to organize peaceful demonstrations to protest a hike in gasoline prices.

Accused of inciting opposition to the government, this led to the arrest and interrogation of several users of BlackBerry Messenger who tried to organize the protest, according to Reporters Without Borders.

The Gulf Arab state is slowly emerging from an economic slowdown brought on by the global financial crisis and a crash of Dubai's property market, which led to billions of dollars in project cancellations and thousands of job cuts.

"They raised the price of gasoline without taking into account people's financial situation which forced them to protest," said Qitbi.

UAE officials say they object to BlackBerry encrypted data being exported offshore, noting this is not a problem with smartphones from Nokia or Apple's iPhone.

Similar security worries have been raised in India. The country's Internal Security Chief U.K. Bansal told reporters last week that BlackBerry maker Research in Motion had pledged to address those concerns soon.

"This is not a decision that was taken hastily but follows two years of negotiations and promises for a solution by the service provider," said a UAE source familiar with the matter.

"The UAE is asking them to have a server here and they are offering solutions other than that," the source said, referring to BlackBerry maker Research in Motion.

Officials at the Canada-based manufacturer were not immediately available for comment.

"I'm a little bit shocked ... this is quite an important instrument for us," said Michel Daenen, regional manager of financial software services provider Sophis.

"It would be very difficult to do business without it ... We're never sitting behind our desk."

The two local service providers pledged to offer BlackBerry clients alternative services within days, but some users expressed doubt about how that might work.

"Companies have got used to employees having mobile email and free instant messaging - these have become indispensable," said Simon Simonian, Shuaa Capital telecoms analyst.

"So there's likely to be a transition issue if companies migrate to alternative devices. It will be difficult to go back to using a Blackberry as if it was a regular phone."

The UAE plans to halt use of BlackBerry Messenger, email and web browser services on October 11. Industry sources told Reuters that Saudi Arabian telecom firms had also been instructed to freeze the Messenger function effective this month.

(Additional reporting by Nicolas Parasie, Matt Smith and Mahmoud Habboush; Editing by Jason Neely)