BEIRUT, (Reuters) – BlackBerry maker Research in  Motion Ltd yesterday faced more demands to open its  smartphones to government scrutiny as Lebanon joined India,  Saudi Arabia and the UAE in raising concerns over security.

RIM’s co-CEO Michael Lazaridis in an interview with The  Wall Street Journal, accusing the governments of picking on  smartphones to score political points.

“This is about the Internet,” Lazaridis told the Journal.  “Everything on the Internet is encrypted. This is not a  BlackBerry-only issue. If they can’t deal with the Internet,  they should shut it off.”

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said officials will  hold talks with the United Arab Emirates and others who are  citing security concerns in seeking access to BlackBerry’s  messaging service.

“We are taking time to consult and analyze the full array  of interests and issues at stake because we know that there is  a legitimate security concern, but there is also a legitimate  right of free use and access,” she told reporters in  Washington.

Clinton has promoted Internet freedom as a basic human  right. Earlier this year she called on China to respond to  charges by Google Inc of censorship and a sophisticated hacking  attack from within the country.

RIM’s shares fell nearly 2 percent in trading on the Nasdaq  and Toronto stock exchanges. The stock has lost about 8 percent  of its value since the UAE threatened over the weekend to ban  BlackBerry email, messaging and Internet services after three  years of negotiations with RIM over access to user data.

The BlackBerry faces a ban in Saudi Arabia as early as  today if RIM cannot reach a compromise there. RIM and Saudi  officials met yesterday.

Lebanon raised concerns over the smartphone yesterday,  saying it was studying security concerns related to the  BlackBerry and would begin talks with RIM, which has its  headquarters in Waterloo, Canada.

Media reports had said that Indonesia was pressing on RIM  to allow monitoring of BlackBerry data, though the country’s  communications minister said it was not banning the service.

India, worried that BlackBerry’s secure messaging services  could be misused by militants, has demanded more access for its  security agencies, and the country’s telecoms minister said it  had not reached an agreement with the company.

The Indian government may block the BlackBerry messenger  service, but allow emails and voicemails, the Times of India  said yesterday, citing unnamed sources.

Government standoffs could hurt confidence in RIM on Wall  Street, which had been reassured that a Gulf states ban would  affect a tiny portion of the BlackBerry’s more than 41 million  subscribers.

Lazaridis said the company was in discussions with various  governments, and said the issue will likely get resolved.

RIM has said BlackBerry security is based on a system where  customers create their own keys. The company neither has a  master key nor any “back door” to let RIM or third parties to  gain access to data.

The company said yesterday it has never provided anything  unique to the government of one country and cannot accommodate  any request for a copy of a customer’s encryption key.