Travel Technology - Taiwan gov't require police backdoor access to Blackberry for entry into the country

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DebbieS

Nov 9, 06, 11:38 am

I was talking with my co-worker about the new Blackberry that he just got. He said that the new Blackberry aren't allowed to be imported into Taiwan... yet... because Taiwan's customs and national police refuse to issue approval for the device, until the manufacturer can implement a hardware backdoor access. (so the police can decrypt and monitor the data transmitted from you Blackberry to someone else, or your VPN) They claim that such backdoors are necessary for them to track criminals... :confused:

I don't speak a word of Chinse, so my co-worker basically explained what the article said.... but can someone tell me if he left out something? Here's the link of the article that he showed me... All I see is the Blackberry photo...
http://www.ettoday.com/2006/11/09/301-2013965.htm

This got me thinking... do other countries' customs/police require this?

Spiff

Nov 9, 06, 12:01 pm

Geez, mainland China didn't care about my CrackBerry, why does Taiwan??? :mad:

Cholula

Nov 9, 06, 12:33 pm

Since this topic is just tangentially related to Travel Safety/Security, I'm going to transfer it to Travel Technology with a re-direct in this forum.
Please follow it there.
Thanks....

______________________________

Cholula
Travel Safety/Security Forum Moderator

DebbieS

Nov 9, 06, 8:10 pm

christep

Nov 9, 06, 8:15 pm

Ludicrous regulation since anyone who wants a secure blackberry simply has to pop on a plane to Hong Kong and get one in pretty much any country version they want. Since there is no way that the Taiwan Customs can inspect everyone's electronic devices on entry this will achieve absolutely nothing.

Doppy

Nov 9, 06, 8:22 pm

Geez, mainland China didn't care about my CrackBerry, why does Taiwan??? :mad:
Mainland China cares about what everyone is doing. If you're using the Internet there, you should always assume that your data is being compromised, unless you've got a known good implementation of AES256.

This backdoor business sounds exactly like the Clinton administration's "clipper chip."

ScottC

Nov 9, 06, 9:07 pm

The article isn't about people brining their OWN Blackberry into the country, it is a regulations issue for a Taiwanese operator to start offering them in their own country.

Nothing to worry about, move along now...