The Indonesian media has reported that certain services provided by RIM’s BlackBerry devices will be blocked by the country’s government. Having faced similar bans in various other markets, RIM has issued a statement to assuage concerns.
David Paterson, VP of government relations at RIM, said: “I’m quite confident we’ll work through this without any significant negative impacts”.
The reports indicate that telecoms officials had raised objections to certain email and IM services available on BlackBerry as conditions agreed to by RIM in January had not been met. The firm claims to have “fully addressed” the Indonesian government’s reservations.
Paterson continued: “As recently as last week, they’ve acknowledged that we have done the things that we said we would do, so these are new quotes that are coming through the media, they have not been raised with us directly.”
The BlackBerry manufacturer has already implemented a number of measures stipulated by the Indonesian government – including content filters and a regional network upgrade – but maintains that it has not been notified of any further requests.
The government’s requests have reportedly included that RIM provide more service centres across the country, as well as clamping down on content such as pornography. In addition, the firm has been asked to aid the country’s law enforcement in obtaining communications between suspected criminals.
