Saudi Arabia has announced a ban on the use of iPhone in Saudi Government installments. So as a consequence it not only bans existing iPhones, but also forthcoming iPhone 5.
A leading London-based Middle-East focused newspaper Asharq-Al Awsat reported the incident, saying Saudi Authorities has banned the usage of iPhones inside the government office premises citing security concerns. Sources revealed that the Saudi Home Ministry had already issued internal orders to ban iPhone usage inside Security headquarters, government installations and institutions from last Saturday itself.
iPhones banned in Saudi Government installations
Not only iPhones, but also Samsung Galaxy Tab has been banned to be used inside Government buildings. Though no official reason has been cited, the possible cause is their apprehension of these high-tech gadgets can be hacked in pretty easily from abroad. Even some of the IT experts and specialists have also voiced their concerns of the same.
Incidentally Saudi Arabia is not the first country to enforce this kind of ban. Earlier, a number of European Countries and United States had did just the same banning the same inside their security organizations, not to part with their internal security.
After being launched back in 2009, iPhones were quite popular in Saudi, and at a time when the latest iPhone 5 was all set to make its entry into the Arab country, this comes as a big hit. Well, we must respect the fact that each security agencies have their capacity to determine the risks possessed by a device or gadget to them and so can subsequently limit their usage.
iPhone 5: More susceptible to hackers? Saudi officials think so
With technological advances, like iCloud or dual camera with multiplex video streaming, the chances of misuse of these iPhones and smartphones had certainly increased manifold. So to some extent the Saudi apprehension about ‘possible misuse by exposure to hackers’ is a valid point.
But what seems bad for Apple and iPhone lovers in the country, is that the Government is trying to curb the use by citing ‘potential risk,’ whereas they could have taken a progressive route; working with manufacturer Apple for better protection and even could have taken benefits from their high-tech systems, say by using in military like the United States.
Although all the high-end Samartphone may be equally susceptible to hacking, it’s still unclear why Saudi officials have come down hard on iPhone and Galaxy only. May be it’s because those two are the highest sold ones in the country and are having a pretty good run on the streets.
This ban reminds us of the earlier ban on BlackBerry — which was enforced upon by almost simultaneously by Saudi Arabia, UAE and Lebanon. We can only hope it’s going to be different this time around.
