Can you send me a telegram?
My Blackberry is blocked
Most global BlackBerry users are comfortably addicted to their wireless devices, which are email and Internet capable. But for those in the United Arab Emirates, BlackBerrys are about to become obsolete. Not because some better device has come along, but because the government has decided to block online data usage through the devices, which are difficult to monitor.
Civil liberties are a different story in the UAE, but many are concerned that discouraging the use of BlackBerrys could have a negative impact on business. Many commercial BlackBerry users in the UAE seek out the device precisely because it offers a modicum of privacy from government’s prying eyes. A previous attempt to monitor UAE BlackBerry loyalists amusingly failed:
Last year, Etisalat, the U.A.E.’s main state phone company, gave users an upgrade that turned out to allow Etisalat access to all the users’ messages. The upgrade also decreased battery life and made the phone get painfully hot, so people soon stopped taking the upgrade.
While privacy has a different standing in UAE, should global data users worry about sending emails to UAE residents whose smartphones could be monitored? And does the increasingly international flow of information thanks to the Internet impact how its use should be protected?
While UAE residents expect their emails to be read, their potential business partners in other countries do not. And the classified information is often an essential element of commerce.
We’ve seen the democratic power of information in place like Iran, where potential dissidents were able to broadcast images and information through YouTube and Twitter. But freedom of commerce, while less explored, may be equally important.
Economic opportunities are no longer confined to a single locality or even nation. Our own entrepreneurs rely heavily on the UAE, which is our largest Middle East export market at $12.1 billion.
Against this clear economic interest is a security issue. The UAE monitors data usage not only because it is religiously conservative but also because, somewhat paradoxically, it is extremely cautious of extremism.
This worry is not unique to UAE. Although there have been controversies and questions about whether the US intelligence apparatus reads domestic email, there is good reason to believe American spy agencies read foreign emails.
Still, there are important arguments for the freedom to do business. It’s one of the greatest arenas of choice, and has a critical effect on individual and collective well-being.
Concerns about email privacy are also a good reminder that the classic ethical dilemma between national security and civil liberties isn’t just an appeal to abstract freedoms about privacy or speech. Without privacy and proprietary communications, commerce cannot flourish. That’s a cost we can’t discount, and a value that can clearly understand.
-Sam
Image used under a Creative Commons Attribution License from Flickr user liewcf.
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- Telegram that opinion
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- Should felons be allowed to vote?
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