BlackBerry maker RIM given two weeks to block access to online pornography after Indonesia warned that users' internet access would be 'shut down' if the company failed to comply
BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion is to implement internet pornography filters in Indonesia after being threatened with a blackout for its 2 million users in the country.
RIM today said it would apply an internet censor in the country "as soon as possible" after Indonesian communications minister Tifatul Sembiring warned that BlackBerry internet access would be "shut down" if it failed to comply.
It is the first time that the Canadian company has agreed to filter the internet on its high-security BlackBerry phones.
Indonesia, which is the world's most populous muslim nation, recently stepped up its internet crackdown with demands for all telecoms companies to block access to adult material.
Sembiring has given RIM a two-week deadline to block access to porn sites. RIM has also been ordered to set up a server in the country, which will bring all transmitted user messages under local jurisdictions, as opposed to the current situation where the majority of servers are based in the west.
"We have repeatedly asked them to do it and we have given them some time," he told the Jakarta Globe at the weekend. "If they keep delaying, we will shut down their operation here because they fail to comply with our laws."
Ministry spokesman Gatot Dewa Brata confirmed to news agency AFP that BlackBerry users would not be able to browse the internet on their device unless RIM installed its censor.
"Research In Motion confirms that it shares minister Tifatul Sembiring's sense of urgency on this matter and it is fully committed to working with Indonesia's carriers to put in place a prompt, compliant filtering solution for BlackBerry subscribers in Indonesia as soon as possible," RIM said in a statement.
Responding to RIM's statement of intent, Sembiring told Reuters: "So, do it."
Most other telecoms companies in the country are understood to have already implemented internet filters, blocking access to adult material for the country's 40 million internet users.
The clampdown stems from Indonesia's anti-porn bill, passed in 2008 by conservative Islamic parties to curb the tide of a perceived increasing immorality in Indonesian society.
The Indonesian ultimatum marks the latest development in RIM's three-year struggle in Asia and the Middle East, as heightened security fears have prompted government concerns in several countries over BlackBerry encryption of emails and messages.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jan/10/blackberry-indonesia-pornography-filter
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