BlackBerry maker RIM (NASDAQ: RIMM) could well be facing the first of a number of international bans on its iconic smartphone this week, as it faces increasing pressure from various governments around the world to open up its secure platform

Central to the entire issue is the strong encryption used when BlackBerry smartphones are deployed with BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) software. While RIM's servers are used to route data traffic between the BES and BlackBerry smartphones, the use of symmetric key technology means that the transmitted data is essentially worthless to a snooper.

The question though is whether this concern over the encryption found in BlackBerry smartphones is genuine, or merely a political ploy. After all, traditional SSL and VPN solutions have existed for years now, as with other encryption implementations such PGP. The request is not possible too, says RIM, since there is no "master key" or backdoor that can be used to gain access to the data sent by the BES.

I suppose RIM co-CEO Michael Lazaridis, summed it up best when told The Wall Street Journal in an interview: "This is not a BlackBerry-only issue. If they can't deal with the Internet, they should shut it off." Lazaridis went on to express his optimism that this issue will get resolved as part of a rational discussion.

While some bloggers have expressed the opinion that RIM should concede, the problem--even if it's possible to comply--is that they fail to consider foreign corporations that might be relying on the secured communication channels afforded by the BlackBerry.

Trade secrets (think pharmaceutical firms) and sensitivity of financial information (think banks and other financial institutes) aside, compliance laws mean that any ban could well result in far-ranging implications on some foreign businesses.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at MSNBC
- check out this article at PC World
- check out this article at CNET News

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