Saudi Arabia BlackBerry Deal Deadline Aug.9

A man walks past a sign advertising the BlackBerry mobile phone at a shopping mall in Dubai on August 01. As the Gulf business hub stated it will suspend key BlackBerry services from October because they are incompatible with local laws and raise security concerns.(STR/Getty Images)

BlackBerry phone maker Research In Motion Ltd (RIM) has been given until midnight Aug. 9 to test a new system with Saudi Arabian telecommunications companies that will allow the Saudi government access to user data, according to a report by Bloomberg.

If successfully worked out, the new arrangement will avert a ban on the BlackBerry in the conservative Muslim country, but is certain to make the BlackBerry less popular with users.

Unnamed Saudi Arabia officials told the Associated Press that RIM has agreed to give the government access to some if its files.

The Saudi government says it needs to monitor BlackBerry communications for security reasons and to maintain social propriety.

Saudi residents have mixed feelings over the BlackBerry issue. Conservatives want the technology curtailed, saying it allows illicit communication between men and women. BlackBerry proponents say they don’t want the government monitoring their personal messages.

Certain BlackBerry functions, including e-mail, BlackBerry messenger, and Web browsing, were recently banned in neighboring United Arab Emirates.