The Indian government has said that it will immediately operationalise the tolls offered by Canada based, Research in Motion (RIM) to provide a lawful access to data services on the popular BlackBerry series of smartphones to the security agencies for monitoring.
The government did not disclose the details about what are the concessions offered by the company to get a 60-day reprieve for ban on its services from August 31. A home ministry official said that no other details can be provided over the release from the government.
The authorities had set a deadline of August 31 for the company to provide access to its services on the smartphones or face a ban in the country. RIM wants to ensure confidentiality and secrecy for its customers with the high level of encryption applied while the authorities want to be able to monitor the data for potential security threats.
The confidentiality mechanism scrambles the emails when sent and then unscrambles them when it reaches its destinations. The security agencies were concerned over the BlackBerry’s Enterprise and Messenger services which can be used by potentials threats to the country.
The company had earlier given security agencies an existing tool that allows them to monitor text on encrypted BlackBerry messenger and the government had cleared services such as the BlackBerry messenger, voice calls and short-messaging services. However, the corporate e-mail service was not cleared as security officials were not able to intercept it for monitoring.
According to the government statement, the feasibility of the RIM solutions will be tested when the mechanism is put to use. The statement added that the Ministry of Home Affairs will review the situation within 60 days and the DOT will also submit its report by that time.
It also said that the Department of Telecommunications will analyze all such services provided by servers located in the country. This indicates that the authorities hold their stand that RIM should install a server in the country. RIM has over a million customers in the country and had promised to resolve issues before the deadline to continue its service offering in the country
Meanwhile, Canadian International Trade Minister Peter Van Loan said he is pleased with the situation between the Canadian firm and the Indian government.
