RIM’s non-tariff trade barrier

In a week that should have seen RIM celebrating the launch of its new touch-screen Torch model, the company’s shares have been tumbling due to the threat of service disconnection in a number of Persian Gulf and Asian states.

The United Arab Emirates joined India, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in demanding back door access to monitor what users are doing on their Blackberries. Indonesia is reported to be joining the RIM-bashing party.

With 40% of RIM’s revenues now coming from outside North America, RIM has to overcome these challenges.

Security is one of the core corporate attractions of the Blackberry; complying with the eavesdropping requirements of a handful of countries could result in compromises for all existing users, including users from government agencies.

Although the Canadian government is said to be defending RIM’s interests, the US State Department has been getting more ink for its involvement in the discussions with foreign governments.

Still, we need to keep in mind the conflicted interests of North American governments in electronic eavesdropping for police and national security purposes.

The US has CALEA (Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act) requirements; Canada has existing Lawful Access requirements and it has been trying to update these laws (but bills keep dying on the expiration of sessions of Parliament).

How different are the lawful access requirements of other countries? How will RIM navigate its way through these challenges, while maintaining the trust of its core corporate clients?

It appears that some finesse will be required by the US and Canadian governments in defending RIM’s core principles.