More trouble for Etisalat and its 'enhancement' patches

More trouble for Etisalat and its ‘enhancement’ patches

BlackBerry manufacturer Research in Motion (RIM) has said that a "performance enhancement patch" the communications provider supplied...

July 21, 2009 7:18 by Dana El Baltaji

BlackBerry manufacturer Research in Motion (RIM) has said that a “performance enhancement patch” the communications provider supplied BlackBerry users in the UAE has not been produced by the handset’s manufacturer, according to a company statement.

RIM claims it was “not involved in any way in the testing, promotion or distribution of this software application,” and that it is “not aware of any technical network concerns with the performance of BlackBerry smartphones on Etisalat ‘s network in the UAE.”

RIM also stated: “Independent sources have concluded that the Etisalat update is not designed to improve performance of your BlackBerry, but rather to send received messages back to a central server.”

The manufacturer has developed a software that enables BlackBerry users to remove Etisalat’s patch.

Last week, UAE-based BlackBerry users complained that a software patch provided by Etisalat to enhance performance contains files named “interceptor” and are marked by a company named SS8, which gives communications operators interception software.

Tags: BlackBerry, Etisalat, Research in Motion, RIM, spyware, UAE

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6 Comments

Nicolas Saade on July 22, 2009 7:37 am

Etisalat should be penalized by what it did.
Yao on July 22, 2009 8:52 am

Booo etisalat booo ,
HS on July 22, 2009 9:29 am

So basically they wanted to invade the privacy of people and spy on their messages!!!!!!

Etisalat should be held responsible for these actions
albert on July 23, 2009 9:31 am

switch to DU
Shehab Ahmed on July 23, 2009 11:22 am

and not to mention all the headache we had to go through since I was on them and I had to re format my device. It was really unnecessary. Now I will delete any dowload msgs even if it says it will turn your device to GOLD !!!! if DU had good signal I will try their Black Berry
Moamer on July 23, 2009 1:59 pm

Yes boo hoo etisalat, however have any of you BB and me users read the full agreement that you agree too, lots of people/middlemen already have the ability to read and review your transmissions as long as they do this as an approved provider or related company working with RIM. So while what Etisalat did was probably blatantly stupid and they got caught for not being able to hide what they did by naming the files “interceptor” etc, your BB is already sending content to firms and people you never intended it to go to.