James Delahunty
11 Jan 2011 12:51
Indonesia has welcomed a planned filter for pornographic content on BlackBerry handsets in the country.
Canadian Research in Motion (RIM) said it will start filtering web content on Indonesian users handsets in response to a threat from the government to block it from the market.
"We've heard about RIM saying it will filter the Internet.... That's good news to us and we highly appreciate that," communications ministry spokesman Gatot Dewa Broto said. Communications and Information Technology Minister Tifatul Sembiring told reporters on Monday that if RIM failed to comply with an order by January 21, they would revoke its permit.
There are an estimated 2 million BlackBerry users in Indonesia. RIM does not filter content on BlackBerry devices in any other market in the world. "We need them to give us the word that they will comply and the actual filtering is just a matter of time," Broto told AFP.
"We can't say what our next step will be until we meet them. We have yet to see the details of the filtering, what will be filtered, how it's going to be filtered."
Communications Minister Sembiring attempted to turn the situation into an issue of Indonesian sovereignty. "All other operators have complied with the laws and regulations of Indonesia.. should RIM be given an exception?" he said in one message posted on Twitter.
"Must we always bow to foreigners? Are we being arrogant if we remind foreigners to respect the laws in Indonesia?"