Oh No! Lebanon Too Will Scrutinize Blackberry Services

This is ridiculous and embarrassing:

Lebanon will assess security concerns relating to the use of BlackBerry phones in the country, the acting head of the Telecoms Regulatory Authority said on Thursday, the latest country to raise worries over the devices. Imad Hoballah said the TRA would start talks with the BlackBerry’s Canadian maker, Research In Motion , over its concerns.

I really don’t understand why they are doing this. In the UAE and Saudi Arabia, the Internet is censored and their intelligence agencies keep a tight lid on the movements of their citizens. In Lebanon that’s not the case. You can find whatever you want in the Internet over here. There can only be two explanations for this:

1. The Arab countries want to act as a block to have a stronger hand when negotiation with RIM, the makers of Blackberry
2. The scoundrels at Alpha and MTC touch are losing money because people are no longer sending SMS and are using BB messaging instead

In both cases, this doesn’t augur well for the future of the Internet in Lebanon.