Arab censorship should concern U.S. cell users

While American authorities are cracking down on texting and/or talking on cell phones while driving, the ubiquitous devices are making authorities in some other countries nervous for other reasons.

Specifically, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have banned certain functions of the BlackBerry.

If you are in the United Arab Emirates, you will be barred from using your BlackBerry to check your e-mail, browse the web or using instant messaging after October.

In Saudi Arabia next door, the government is banning the BlackBerry instant messaging service.

What's different about the BlackBerry is that all traffic moves through the device's parent company's servers, rather than scattered commercial servers, which the Arab governments have been successful in regulating.

The move is not a surprise in those authoritarian societies where religion police are an integral part of law enforcement.

The language used by the UAE's regulator sounds reasonable on the surface -- Research in Motion, the BlackBerry's parent company, is allowing users to behave "without any legal accountability, causing judicial, social and national security concerns."

In post- 9/11 America, it wouldn't be unusual to hear Homeland Security using similar language as it applies to suspected terrorists.

But as more and more communications moves into the electronic realm -- where it is regulated by the federal government and not specifically protected by the Constitution -- Americans have reason to be concerned.