Encrypted messaging services such as Skype, Viber and WhatsApp could be blocked in Saudi Arabia, the telecommunications regulator there is reported to have warned.<\/p>\n
It is demanding a means to monitor such applications, but Saudis say that would seriously inhibit their communications.<\/p>\n
Saudi newspapers are reporting that the companies behind the applications have been given a week to respond.<\/p>\n
No explanation has been given of why the demand has been made.<\/p>\n
Ahmed Omran, a Saudi blogger who runs the Riyadh Bureau site, says that Saudi telecom companies may be tempted to go along with the request from the regulator – even though it will upset their customers – because of the loss of revenue they suffer from the free apps, which are hugely popular in the country.<\/p>\n
One Saudi source goes further – with an article in the local Arab News suggesting that it may even have been the telecom companies themselves that have been demanding that action be taken against the apps.<\/p>\n
The move is similar to attempts to rein in the Blackberry messaging service several years ago. <\/p>\n