US to hold talks with India, UAE, RIM on Blackberry issue

Lalit K Jha
Washington, Aug 6 (PTI) The US has initiated talks
with countries like India, UAE and Saudi Arabia, besides the
Canada-based firm RIM that owns BlackBerry so as to address
the "legitimate" security concerns of these nations.
"We are reaching out to those countries -- the UAE,
Saudi Arabia, India and others -- to understand the security
concerns and see if we can't work collaboratively to find
solutions.
"So that's a process that is ongoing here at the
Department of State. I've got no, you know, announcements to
make at this point," State Department spokesman P J Crowley
told reporters at his daily news conference.
The United States has also been in touch with RIM, the
Canadian company that operates the BlackBerry network
worldwide.
"We're going to have follow-on meetings with RIM to
try to understand fully the issues that have been raised to
the company and see if we can't determine how to meet both the
security needs that these countries are expressing and also
ensure the free flow of information as we are advocating,"
Crowley said.
Earlier in the day, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
said: "We are taking time to consult and analyse the full
range of interests and issues at stake because we know that
there is a legitimate security concern, but there's also a
legitimate right of free use and access. So, I think we will
be pursuing both technical and expert discussions as we go
forward."
If some of these countries follow through on the
BlackBerry ban that they have announced, it would have an
impact on the US government and its diplomats operating in
different countries.
"So we are directly affected by what has been
suggested. But obviously, we know that both American
businessmen, American citizens travelling abroad, the citizens
of other countries would be affected as well," Crowley said.
At this point, the US is gaining information and
perspective.
"Then once we understand all of the issues involved,
and there are technologies issues involved, there are security
issues involved, there are regulatory issues involved," he
said.
"Once we gain a better understanding then we'll see
what we can do about developing and suggesting particular
solutions," Crowley said. PTI