Dubai says BlackBerry is a spy tool

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Worries about spying by the United States and Israel spurred plans to sharply limit BlackBerry services in the United Arab Emirates, Dubai's police chief said Friday in comments suggesting a tough line in talks with the smart-phone maker.

The UAE says it will block BlackBerry e-mail, messaging, and Web services starting Oct. 11 unless authorities can gain access to the encrypted data traffic - a demand by other countries warning of possible bans including India.

The proposed UAE action threatens BlackBerry service for an estimated 500,000 local subscribers and could tarnish the country's reputation as the Persian Gulf's business and tourism hub with potentially millions of visitors left without key BlackBerry services.

Dubai's police chief, Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim, said that fears of espionage and information-sharing by foe Israel - as well as by UAE allies, the United States, and Britain - helped prompt the possible limits on the popular BlackBerry.

Tamim told a conference on information technology that the proposed BlackBerry curbs were also "meant to control false rumors and defamation of public figures due to the absence of surveillance," according to a story posted on the website of the UAE newspaper Al-Khaleej.

Tamim's remarks are often considered to reflect the views of Dubai's leadership.

UAE officials reportedly are in talks with the BlackBerry maker, Canada-based Research in Motion Ltd. Tamim's comments, however, point to a hard line by Emirates security chiefs who demand access to BlackBerry data.