BlackBerry agrees to filter out porn in Indonesia

[January 18, 2011]  JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- The maker of BlackBerry promised Indonesia on Monday it will meet the country's request to filter out pornographic content on its smartphones in the next four days, according to a government spokesman.

Research In Motion Ltd. made a commitment last week to install the filters after Indonesia threatened to revoke BlackBerry's license to operate in the country, the world's most populous Muslim nation. The Canada-based company worked out the details of the deal in a meeting with government officials on Monday.

RIM's managing director for Southeast Asia Gregory Wade said the company had discussed the issue with the six operators that support BlackBerry service in Indonesia and "we'll be implementing together."

Ministry of Communication and Information spokesman Gatot Dewabroto said the company promised to do so within 100 hours of the meeting -- ahead of the government's deadline on Jan. 21. The government has said it will not extend the deadline.

The government also RIM has also agreed to set up servers in the country, as requested.

A number of countries have expressed national security concerns about encrypted information on users' BlackBerrys if RIM didn't come up with a way for governments to monitor them. They have threatend to shut out RIM, whose competitive edge rests on ensuring security to its global users.

Indonesia says RIM earns about $251 million per year from the country's 3 million BlackBerry users.

[Associated Press]

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