NEW DELHI/DUBAI, Aug 3, (RTRS): BlackBerry maker Research In Motion may be considering concessions to governments who have voiced concerns about the tight security that makes its devices so popular, newspapers said on Tuesday.

India’s Economic Times newspaper reported that RIM had agreed to allow security authorities in the country to monitor BlackBerry services after pressure from governments worried about national security.
Separately Kuwaiti daily Al-Jarida, quoting a source it did not identify by name, said RIM had given “initial approval” to block 3,000 porn sites at the request of Kuwait’s communications ministry. It said security was also a concern. The two reports follow the announcement on Sunday that the United Arab Emirates would suspend BlackBerry Messenger, email and Web browser services from Oct 11 unless it could access encrypted messages.

RIM has declined to comment on the newspaper reports or on the reports of a UAE ban, but said on Monday in a statement it would respect both customers and governments.
“RIM does not disclose confidential regulatory discussions that take place with any government,” it said, without elaborating.

The Ontario-based company says is keen to clear the air before Tuesday’s expected launch of a new BlackBerry dubbed its “iPhone killer”.
Unlike rivals Nokia and iPhone maker Apple, RIM controls its own networks which handle encrypted messages through centres in Canada and the UK.

That has made the BlackBerry popular as a secure way to communicate, but has worried governments.
RIM’s Nasdaq-listed shares fell as much as 2.7 percent before closing down 0.96 percent at $56.98 on Monday. Its Toronto-listed shares resume trading on Tuesday following a public holiday.
The Economic Times, citing internal government documents, said RIM has offered to share with Indian security agencies its technical codes for corporate email services, open up access to all consumer emails within 15 days and also develop tools in six to eight months to allow monitoring of chats.
An Indian government source could not confirm or deny the details in the newspaper but told Reuters the company and security agencies were discussing several options and a deal would be reached soon.
“We hope to find a solution by this month end,” the official said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to media.

Kuwait’s al-Jarida said Kuwait’s government was working with RIM and telecom companies on “legal controls that would guarantee national security on the one hand, and the rights of citizens ... to use the device’s services on the other.”

Saudi Arabia has also asked service providers to cut off Messenger, industry sources told Reuters.
Bahrain in April warned against using Messenger to distribute news.

Precedent
The United States weighed in on the matter on Monday and said the UAE was setting a dangerous precedent in limiting freedom of information.
But the UAE says it wants nothing more than what other nations have negotiated and notes it only announced plans for a ban after three years of attempts to work out a compromise.
Under US law, for example, authorities can use a subpoena to gain access to telecommunications data and Britain has similar rules. RIM has refused to discuss the details of its pacts with individual governments.
“It is troublesome to think that RIM is already complying with US and UK regulatory requirements which are virtually the same as those in the UAE,” said a UAE source familiar with the matter. “So it begs the question why treat the UAE differently?”
Theodore Karasik, a security analyst at Dubai-based firm INEGMA, said there were real security concerns at stake.
“Some in the Dubai/UAE bashing crowd will say this is a freedom of speech issue ... but some would say the UAE brought this up at the height of threat awareness here. There are several security issues here — Iran, Yemen, al Qaeda — that they could be worried about,” he told Reuters.
“Everyone wants to get their security access. The UAE is acting as a bellwether for other countries on this,” he said.

Showdown
Mobile phone service providers scrambled on Tuesday to hold onto half a million users spooked by BlackBerry’s showdown with UAE regulators, offering them a switch to Apple’s iPhone and other rival smartphones.
“I’m going to grab the Nokia option, it seems more of a business phone than Apple,” said Wiam Nabulsi, an account manager at an advertising agency in Dubai.
BlackBerry handsets are popular among business people and professionals in the United Arab Emirates, a wealthy oil exporter that includes the Gulf Arab financial hub Dubai.
It also has a following among the young and wealthy, with students choosing the device for its user-friendly chat option.
Research In Motion unveiled a new BlackBerry smartphone on Tuesday to raise its consumer appeal and compete with Apple’s iPhone.
AT&T Inc will be the carrier for the BlackBerry Torch, which will go on sale on August 12 for $199.99 with a two-year service agreement.
The device, unveiled in New York, has a touchscreen and slide-out keyboard and a new operating system called BlackBerry 6 with a new browser.
Analysts said RIM needs a big overhaul of its phones to attract more buyers and compete with iPhone and devices that use Google’s Android operating system, such as Motorola’s Droid.

Monitor
Research in Motion has agreed to allow Indian security agencies to monitor its BlackBerry services, The Economic Times newspaper reported on Tuesday, after pressure from governments worried about national security.
RIM has offered to share with Indian security agencies its technical codes for corporate email services, open up access to all consumer emails within 15 days and also develop tools in six to eight months to allow monitoring of chats, the paper said, citing internal government documents.
RIM will provide further details on its proposals to the Indian telecoms ministry on Tuesday, the newspaper said.
A RIM India spokesman had no immediate comment on the report while a Telecoms Ministry spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.

Protection
The BlackBerry — renown for the security of its messaging — doesn’t offer 100 percent protection from eavesdropping. At least not in the United States.
US law enforcement officials said they can tap into emails and other conversations made using the device, made by Research in Motion, as long as they have proper court orders.
RIM’s willingness to grant authorities access to the messages of its clients is a hot-button issue. The United Arab Emirates claims it does not have the same kind of surveillance rights to BlackBerry messages as officials in the United States. It has threatened to clamp down on some services unless they get more access.
The exact details of the dispute remain unclear, but security experts say that many governments around the world enjoy the ability to monitor BlackBerry conversations as they do communications involving most types of mobile devices.
“The ability to tap communications is a part of surveillance and intelligence and law envorcement all over the world,” said Mark Rasch, former head of the computer crimes unit at the US Department of Justice.
RIM is in an unusual position of having to deal with government requests to monitor its clients because it is the only smartphone maker who manages the traffic of messages sent using its equipment. Other smartphone makers — including Apple Inc, Nokia, HTC and Motorola Corp — leave the work of managing data to the wireless carrier or the customer.