This is very interesting to me:
More than a million BlackBerry users may have key services in Saudi Arabia and
the UAE cut off after authorities stepped up demands on smartphone maker
Research In Motion for access to encrypted messages sent over the device.
BlackBerry's Messenger application has spread rapidly in the Gulf Arab region
but because the data is encrypted and sent to offshore servers, it cannot be
tracked locally.
"Certain BlackBerry services allow users to act without any legal
accountability, causing judicial, social and national security concerns," the
United Arab Emirates' Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) said in a
statement.
...
India raised similar security concerns last week, and Bahrain in April warned
against using BlackBerry Messenger to distribute local news. As far back as
2007, France cautioned officials about using the services.
Indian security officials were concerned that BlackBerry's encrypted data
could be used to coordinate acts against the state. They have clamped down on
mobile phone operators in the wake of 2008 attacks that killed 166 people in
Mumbai.
Sure, secure communications can "be used to coordinate acts against the state". But secure communications can be used to secure the Jews in your attic too.
There is a lot of secure communications that goes on with Windows Phone 7 too. I wonder if any of it will run afoul of repressive government laws.
I may have to write an app for defeating such laws if things progress to far in that direction. It consumes more bandwidth but it's possible to create communication channels that are essentially invisible while in plain sight and encrypt them as well. I've done this before with another app but sort of lost interest when we started winning the gun rights war in this country. I might have to fire up that project again.