UAE's BlackBerry ban: Why is Canada silent?

Human rights organizations have joined the United States in condemning the decision of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to suspend Blackberry Messenger, Blackberry E-mail, and Blackberry Web-browsing services starting Oct. 11 unless it can access encrypted messages, citing security concerns. But the Canadian government is mum.

"The US can't be doing this all the time. Where was the Canadian government?" says Robert Guerra, the Internet freedom project director at Washington-based Freedom House. "The Canadian government has traditionally been a big supporter of human rights. I'm surprised. Maybe it's summer and they're away."