RIM has agreed to develop a solution to filter porn in Indonesia, in a bid to stave off a ban on BlackBerry services in the large market.
But the government is also pressing RIM to enable Indonesian security officials to monitor BlackBerry services, a demand that could be harder to satisfy.
Indonesian officials want RIM to block porn browsing on BlackBerry smartphones from within the nation to comply with local anti-pornography laws.
RIM has revealed it will develop a system as quickly as possible, marking the first time the vendor will apply internet filtering in any country, Dow Jones reported.
The government will meet with RIM and six mobile operators on January 17 to discuss the matter. It has warned it may ask RIM to shut down its browser service, in advance of a potential blanket ban, if RIM does not satisfy.
RIM, which has an estimated 1.5 million BlackBerry users in Indonesia, said it is working with local carriers to develop a compliant filtering solution, in a statement sent to Reuters.
But in response to RIM's comments, Indonesian communications minister Tiffatul Sembiring said simply, “so do it.”
The communications ministry is simultaneously pressing RIM to enable lawful interception of BlackBerry messages through the establishment of a local server in Indonesia.
RIM has so far been unable to come up with a surveillance solution for its heavily encrypted corporate email service that satisfies the Indian government, and last week revealed it could take another two years to develop one. Indonesian lawmakers could prove just as hard to please.