The U.S. must fight for technological freedom in China and the Islamic world. But what's the best strategy?

When the United Arab Emirates announced last week that it would suspend BlackBerry service within its borders starting this fall, business travelers who rely on the handheld devices reacted with understandable dismay. But the decision was greeted quite differently by the men and women who make a living hunting terrorists, smugglers, human traffickers, foreign agents and the occasional team of clumsy assassins

Among the reported solutions to avert a halt to BlackBerry's key messenger service is the installation of a local server accessible to Saudi authorities, instead of having data going directly to the maker's servers in Canada.

Saudi Arabia plans to block the messenger function on BlackBerry handsets from Friday while the United Arab Emirates has said it will definitely instigate a similar ban next month. Why has BlackBerry become the thorn in the side of the Gulf states?