Blackberry will block porn for Indonesia

THE PRUDISH government of Indonesia has got Research in Motion (RIM) to bend over and filter pornographic websites as part of an agreement that will give it access to encrypted customer data.
Rather like RIM's dealings with India, RIM's Blackberry service in the Southeast Asian archipegalo nation will get a local server through which subscribers' traffic will pass, allowing Indonesian government coppers and spooks to have a butcher's whenever it has a notion to do so.
According to Reuters, RIM said in a statement, "Research In Motion confirms that it shares Minister Tifatul Sembirings sense of urgency on this matter and it is fully committed to working with Indonesias carriers to put in place a prompt, compliant filtering solution for Blackberry subscribers in Indonesia as soon as possible."
Sembirings is leading the anti-porn charge and no doubt like politicians in so many countries he's trying to making a name for himself. Indonesia's anti-porn law came into effect in 2008 and RIM has been selling in the country for so long that it has 2 million subscribers there.


But Sembiring seems to have only discovered all this just recently. One has to wonder what other policies the Indonesian government wants to divert its population's attention away from by focusing on porn.