

Indonesia joins countries mulling BlackBerry ban  - nerOConsulting
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/phones/2010-08-04-indonesia-blackberry_N.htm?POE=click-refer

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nerOConsulting
So i'm following this story because I have some clients who regularly travel
to the Middle East for business with their BBs, interesting to see how it will
turn out. My question is, how can the UAE or any government "ban" blackberry
usage i.e. how do they distinguish between blackberry service and any other
cellular service?

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sorbus
The issue is with the encryption that BBs use, which prevents snooping on the
traffic. Kicking anyone sending encrypted data off the network would be a good
way to do that. As I understand it, the data is relayed through RIM's servers
on the way to corporate networks as well, so blocking them would probably also
factor in. The cellular networks also probably have some way to identify
devices, though I'm not certain of this.

Failing that, arresting anyone who tries to get into the country with a
blackberry would probably work pretty well.

