Research In Motion Ltd. said it will filter Internet content on BlackBerrys in Indonesia “as soon as possible,“ after a minister threatened to shut down Internet browsing on the smartphones if the company didn't block websites that have pornography.
It will be the first time the company will apply Internet filtering in any country, according to a RIM executive in Indonesia. RIM and the government will meet Jan. 17 to discuss the matter, a spokesman for Indonesia's Information Ministry said.
“RIM has been engaged with its carrier partners and the government on this matter and continues to make it a top priority to implement satisfactory technical solutions with its partners as soon as possible,“ the company said Monday. The Waterloo, Ontario, company declined further comment.
The move came after the Indonesian government last year told Internet-service providers in the country to block customers from viewing sites that have pornographic content.
A threat made Friday against RIM was the latest in a series of warnings that Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring has issued since last year. The minister also has demanded that RIM set up a server in Indonesia to allow the government to access data sent via BlackBerry if needed to probe, for example, corruption cases.
Analysts estimated that BlackBerry has around two million users in Indonesia. Setting up filters to block access to certain sites typically isn't difficult. Most countries require ISPs to offer content filtering, said John Pescatore of research firm Gartner Inc.
But the process becomes more complex when it comes to corporate BlackBerry users. Corporate BlackBerry data traffic is heavily encrypted and routed through a BlackBerry gateway that telecommunications providers can't access, said Joel Smith, the chief technology officer of AppRiver LLC, which provides email and Web security.
As a result, RIM would need to change its network architecture to let the Canadian company isolate data traffic in Indonesia and then block access to sites prohibited by the government, Mr. Smith said.
Filtering is easier for noncorporate BlackBerry users, whose data aren't as heavily encrypted, Mr. Smith said. The content can be filtered by setting up a proxy server that blocks access to a list of banned Web sites.
source : kompas.com
