I love how RIM hasn’t held back with their statements lately. I’ve mentioned it here and I’m sure many of you have heard about the possible BlackBerry ban in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Personally, I think their reasons for wanting access to RIM’s encrypted servers to monitor communications aren’t well founded.

They’ve basically admitted to attempting to crack and track RIM’s encrypted info and are now pushing for direct access from RIM since they couldn’t. Can anyone say FAIL? Here’s a bit from the WSJ where RIM’s Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis addresses the looming BlackBerry ban:

“This is about the Internet,” Mr. Lazaridis said. “Everything on the Internet is encrypted. This is not a BlackBerry-only issue. If they can’t deal with the Internet, they should shut it off.”

In a fiery interview, the RIM co-founder said the devices are being unfairly singled out by foreign officials trying to score political points. The dispute puts at risk a key market in RIM’s growing international business, but backing down could undermine a reputation for tight security that has made BlackBerry the default choice for corporations and governments around the world.

Mr. Lazaridis wouldn’t comment on the details of negotiations with individual countries, but believes he can head off threats to ban the devices. The company, he said, is holding discussions with the regulatory authorities of various governments in an attempt to persuade them that the Internet requires secure communications and get them to back off of their demands that they be allowed to monitor its customers’ traffic.

“We have dealt with this before,” Mr. Lazaridis said. “This will get resolved. And it will get resolved if there is a chance for rational discussion.”

And that, my fellow BlackBerry fans, is how it’s done. Good job Mike I hope those who seek a BlackBerry ban realize they’re making a big mistake and eventually back down. What do you all think?

via WSJ