Policy to ban blackberry devices

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Recently, some Arab countries decided to ban the use of blackberry devices in their respective territories. The reason, according to news, is that the encryption devices in the e-mail functionality of blackberry phones make it hard for them to monitor their constituents. Now, we were asked to write a reaction paper for our subject Technology and the Law. Personally, I am against it because I am looking at the perspective of democracy. But these Arab countries are not democratic, so I'm having a problem putting myself in the shoes of the people affected by the policy. I don't know how freedom of speech and expression, as well as property rights, work there. Does anyone know about it? Do you have any insights? I am not a techbug so it's hard to discuss on technical issues. If there's a BB savvy out there who can orient me about that device, particularly the encryption feature, I'd be more than thankful. =)