Are communication technologies an acquired democratic right?

by Marc-André from Apathy is Boring — September 1, 2010

[Image from Wikimedia Commons]

At the beginning of August, United Arab Emirates’ authorities, and then Saudi Arabia’s, indicated their will to ban emailing, text messaging, and online navigation functions from BlackBerry smartphones because they are apparently immune to country laws. Data transmission services from the device are reported to slip pass local control, which results in social, judicial, and security concerns.

Some analysts argue that this mistrust toward technology is common within emerging economies that are not entirely democratic. That can be true for a country like Saudi Arabia, one of the few countries that does not pretend to be a democracy. However, what should we do with a country like, let’s say, India – “the world’s largest democracy” as we like to call it – that has already expressed its concern toward the BlackBerry device?

Does the prohibition of a specific technology mean that we can no longer communicate freely? It depends. In India, people would be able to turn to other means because the Internet is not really controlled all that much, just like here in Canada. Technology is “replaceable”. But in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, some people use the BlackBerry device because it is their last resort to slip pass governmental control of communications as the Internet is so strongly censored.

Saudi Arabia, however, found a common ground with Research In Motion, the Canadian company that developed the BlackBerry device. All of its services will remain active, but Saudi authorities will benefit from greater control over the data.

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