BlackBerry Maker Resists Governments' Pressure

Mike Lazaridis, founder and co-chief executive of Research In Motion, the Canadian company that makes BlackBerry smartphones, said that his company would not give in to pressure from foreign governments to provide access to its customers' messages.

That pressure increased on August 3 as Saudi Arabia ordered local cellphone providers to halt BlackBerry service, saying it failed to meet the country's regulatory requirements. Lazaridis said that allowing governments to monitor messages shuttling across the BlackBerry network could endanger the company's relationships with its customers, which include major companies and law enforcement agencies.