UAE to curb BlackBerry usage for individuals

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DUBAI, April 16 (The Economic Times): The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will stop individuals and small businesses accessing the most private data services offered by BlackBerry, a UAE newspaper said Saturday, months after resolving a dispute over its access to information. Only businesses with 20 or more subscriptions will be allowed to use high security accounts on the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, which allows for services such as highly secure corporate email, The National newspaper reported. The move comes six months after the UAE dropped a threat to suspend BlackBerry services in a dispute over access, and coincides with efforts by Arab states to stem rolling pro-democracy revolts, largely organised on social media, that have touched all but two Gulf countries, the UAE and Qatar . Citing a ruling by the UAE's telecoms regulator, The National said that small businesses would still be able to use the BlackBerry Internet Service, which does not rely on private servers, as well as encrypted messaging. BlackBerry maker Research In Motion encrypts email messages as they travel between a BlackBerry device and a computer known as BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES).