YNOT EUROPE – Representatives of Canadian company Research in Motion, developer of the BlackBerry mobile phone, have been summoned to a meeting with Ofcom, the regulatory agency for all things communication-related in the UK. At issue: easy access to porn on BlackBerry handsets.

According to published reports, the stalwart BlackBerry — once the solid first choice of business users everywhere — has become increasingly popular with young Brits over the past few years. The UK’s Telegraph indicated “a large number of [BlackBerry’s] eight million users in Britain are now believed to be under 18.”

That’s not a concern for Ofcom. Heaven knows there’s no accounting for taste among children, and more power to the ones who can resist the siren song of Apple.

What does concern Ofcom is that BlackBerry remains the only major mobile handset immune to the regulator’s efforts to keep adult content away from minors. Carrier networks have been able to filter content by age for every other handset, but because RIM runs all BlackBerry data through its own servers, bypassing those belonging to the carriers, mobile porn is only a quick click away for users of any age.

RIM has become notorious for the proprietary nature of its network. The company claims its system provides an extra layer of security for sensitive business communications, but censors worldwide increasingly view BlackBerry as a problem, not a solution. Earlier this year, BlackBerrys were outlawed in several Muslim Middle Eastern nations until RIM agreed to segregate its network in such a way that each country’s mobile censorship protocols could be accommodated.

The company came under fire in the UK in August after looters allegedly employed the BlackBerry Messenger service — which, like all other BlackBerry data, flows through RIM’s servers and not over carrier networks — to coordinate their activities during the London riots.

An Ofcom spokesperson told the UK’s Telegraph that the agency merely wants to solve what it perceives as a potential hole in an otherwise well-oiled “protect the children” machine.

“It was brought to our attention that there was a problem,” the spokesperson told the paper. “It is to do with the way in which the BlackBerry operating system works. We are very concerned and want to get this resolved as quickly as possible.”

Although RIM has offered to apply filters on behalf of UK telecoms, only T-Mobile accepted the company’s offer.