To BB or to not BB, that is the question

The problem stems from the famed high-security BlackBerry architecture. The phone communicates through a highly data efficient and encrypted link to servers in Canada or, if you run your own BlackBerry Enterprise Server, to that server. The link is encrypted and thus the telco or Internet company can not see what is being sent over, or to whom.

The same has been said of VoIP

The same has been said of VoIP and Skype is banned in many of these countries too on similar grounds - that it is impossible to wiretap conversations made over the VoIP network.

And what of foreign investment? How can a US or European company continue to operate in India or the Middle East with the knowledge that their communication can be eavesdropped on by the authorities? Even if they wanted to comply, that would probably break half a dozen different compliance acronyms from HEPA to Sarbanex-Oxley to PCI, striking them off whatever stock market they may be in and possibly landing their CIO in jail.

PGP, or its open source version, the GNU Privacy Guard, has long been available on a PC but more recently it has been ported to Android, meaning anyone with an Android phone can have total privacy.

Privacy, but not anonymity. Anyone can still see from headers who the encryption communication is with and build up a network of activity. Some say that anonymity in itself is not a crime as much as privacy is not a crime. Some in power disagree. With both. The debate goes on.

A top executive of the maker of the BlackBerry smartphones said in an interview published Wednesday that the firm would not give in to pressure to allow foreign governments to access customer data.

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