A report over the weekend told that thousands of Saudis are now selling off their BlackBerry devices ahead of the scheduled ban by the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
However, with very few people willing to buy the smartphones, Saudis were forced to sell it at a much cheaper price.
“I want to get a new smartphone. Since the announcement of the ban, many Saudis have already traded or sold their BlackBerry fearing that they will not be able to sell it when the ban is already implemented,” a Saudi national said.
Many cellphone shops in the UAE and Saudi Arabia also expressed fear that the ban could affect their sales, saying that fewer people are now buying phones, particularly smartphones.
There are also rumored that the ban would take effect Friday midnight causing more panic among its users. But a day after the “supposed” implementation, many of the devices are still working and services can still be used.
It will be recalled that the governments of Saudi Arabia and the UAE announced plans to ban the use of BlackBerry services starting October 11, saying that the device is a direct threat to national security since the encrypted messages sent through the device is outside the jurisdiction of the government.
The UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Administration (TRA) cited reports that the device are being used by spies and other anti-government infiltrators to pass on encrypted messages that could not be monitored by local governments.
The TRA said that it would ban BlackBerry e-mail, messaging and Web browsing starting in October 11, while Indonesia and India are also demanding greater control over the data.
For its part, Research in Motion (RIM), the maker of the popular BlackBerry device, said that they are now talking “privately” with the governments, hoping to come up with a “win-win” solution that would avert the planned ban.
An RIM official familiar with the matter said that the discussion includes putting up a local server in the respective countries allowing the government to have a peek on the encrypted messages.
The official, who refused to be named, said that they are also discussing the possible privacy violations when the local servers were put up.
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