BlackBerry's global politics Government on side for the business but not the privacy issues. By Anca Gurzu Published August 11, 2010

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When news broke that the United Arab Emirates will enforce a ban on BlackBerry services starting October, the United States was not shy to show its support for the Waterloo-based company Research in Motion that has more than 46 million worldwide users. Although the conservative Middle East nation cited national security concerns for its decision, the US saw this as a threat to consumer privacy.

"It's about what we think is an important element of democracy, human rights, and freedom of information and the flow of information in the 21^st century," said Philip Crowley, State Department spokesperson. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is reportedly holding talks with the UAE over the dispute.

International Trade Minister Peter Van Loan followed the US lead and also came out in RIM's support, saying the Canadian government is also in talks with the UAE.

Experts say the Canadian government has no option but to stand by its own company. But considering RIM is a Canadian business, they remain puzzled over this country's modest public response compared to that of its southern neighbour. The major problem, they say, is that—unlike the US—Canada lacks a comprehensive cyberspace strategy that is needed to protect freedom of expression in a growing digitized world.

"Obviously we think that the free flow of communications is an important value and we want to see that continue and, on a more immediate level, we are also concerned about the implications on a business level," Mr. Van Loan told Embassy in an interview.

"You take the UAE, for example, they are working really hard to position themselves as a global centre for business, for international trade, for travel and commerce, and the BlackBerry is a fundamental business tool used by business travellers," he continued. "In that sense, it is very surprising that they are contemplating a move like that because it is entirely inconsistent with their overall objectives."

Mr. Van Loan pointed out that Canada is able to secure the privacy of BlackBerry communication while at the same time protecting national security.

"So we believe there are ways to do that without the sweeping approach proposed by some other countries," he said

But Robert Guerra, the Internet Freedom project director at the Washington-based Freedom House, said the Canadian government's concern about the free flow of communication is "US speak." He pointed out the government's emphasis on the potential business impact of UAE's decision.

"The Canadian government basically just addressed the business aspect, that it is working behind the scenes to try to protect Canadian business. Period. Canadian companies are in trouble, we must help them out," Mr. Guerra, originally from Toronto, said. "What was missing was the aspect of the surveillance and privacy violations."

After the UAE, which has about 500,000 BlackBerry users, threatened to block the smart phone's services over concerns the communication device cannot be reliably monitored by local authorities, more countries started to come forward with similar arguments. This created a spillover effect that has invaded national and international news for the last two weeks.

Saudi Arabia was also poised to shut the BlackBerry messenger services since last Friday, but ongoing negotiations between RIM and the Saudi government prevented the ban. Recent reports indicate that the Saudi government has reached a deal with RIM that would see the company comply with the country's regulatory requirements. RIM's new commitments remain unspecified.

In India, security authorities also said they want to be able to fully intercept all BlackBerry services, or risk having them discontinued since the network could be a security threat. Indonesia, with an estimated 1.2 million BlackBerry devices, also joined the chorus of countries that wanted the device maker to give governments easier access to private messages. Reports indicate RIM accepted Kuwait's demand to block about 3,000 pornographic sites.

The main problem of these countries, many of which have faced terrorism threats in the last years, is the BlackBerry's tight encryption tools, which include routing data through the company's own secure servers. This has been a consistent part of RIM's global brand. But UAE officials said they are only asking the company for the same regulatory compliance that RIM grants the US and other governments.

RIM officials have repeatedly issued statements, trying to assure the international public that it will not compromise the integrity and security of the BlackBerry. But the recent news over the Saudi deal raises questions about what is publicly announced and the potentially controversial arrangements that happen behind the scenes.

Commentators have described the RIM developments as just the last in a growing trend that see some foreign governments pushing back against mostly Western technology firms for domestic reasons. China has previously asked American-based Google to censor its search results within the country, leading to a heated and public battle over consumers' Internet freedom.

Regardless of the many speculations and uncertainties about RIM's concessions with foreign governments, what is "ultimately insulting" is that the US came out stronger in RIM's support than Canada, Mr. Guerra said.

This is because the US already has a well-articulated policy on the importance of Internet freedom, he explained. In a foreign policy speech delivered at the end of January, Ms. Clinton talked about the Internet as being essential to upholding human rights and encouraging economic prosperity. She also said the US plans to promote Internet access to all people.

But Canada was not prepapred, Mr. Guerra said. His thoughts were echoed in a Globe and Mail column by Ron Deibert, diretor of the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs.

"The engagement on [the RIM] file needs to be seen as part of a broader vision that, so far, we haven't articulated as a country," Mr. Deibert wrote. "We need to be a strong voice internationally for a vision of cyberspace in which freedom of speech, access to information, and privacy are constitutive principles for this domain."

Political issue

National security and commerce used to be unrelated, "two different solitudes in two different worlds," said Ian Lee, director of the MBA program at Carleton University. But with a growing digitization of communication it is not surprising that governments started taking a keen interest in new and sophisticated products, he said.

"It was inevitable that governments would start encroaching or stepping on the turf of private corporations, who are trying to sell widgets on the basis they are completely secure," Mr. Lee said. "This rattles decision-makers and spy agencies."

It is "good business" for the Canadian government to stand up for RIM, since this is one of the world's leading technological companies, and "what is good for RIM is good for Canada," said Patrick Leblond, an expert on international economic integration and government-business relations at the University of Ottawa. However, he did describe the developments as more of a political than business issue. At the end of the day, this is about how much information the company should provide to governments who want to get information on their citizens, he explained.

Even though countries like the UAE and Saudi Arabia might not have a stellar record on the human rights front, they are still seen as allies of the US and Canada, Mr. Lee explained.

This, he said, means backroom talks will remain diplomatic and embarrassment-free.

"We are not talking about Venezuela or Cuba or North Korea. If it was a country like Iran that would start publicly complaining, we would laugh at them and dismiss their claim," Mr. Lee said. "But this is more complicated for the Canadian government."

Mr. Leblond also pointed out that it's not just about consumer privacy and Internet freedom, but that Canada's and the US's economic interests are also at stake. The West does not want countries like India or Saudi Arabia to be able to close their doors on technological companies like RIM, since the emphasis has always been on having open markets.

agurzu@embassymag.ca