BlackBerry told to provide access by Aug 31 or face ban Read more: BlackBerry told t

[jha]

BlackBerry told to provide access by Aug 31 or face ban



NEW DELHI: Stepping up the pressure on BlackBerry mobile phone services, government today asked phone-makers Research In Motion as well as telecom operators to provide a technical solution by August 31 or face ban.

In a letter to the Department of Telecom Secretary P J Thomas, Union Home Secretary G K Pillai asked him to convey to the operators and Canada-based RIM that a technical solution to make available lawful interception of BlackBerry Enterprise Services (BES) and BlackBerry Messenger Services (BBM) by August 31 or its services will be blocked.

The letter was sent after a meeting chaired by Pillai in which representatives of security agencies, Telecom Department and top brass of state-owned BSNL and MTNL were present.

According to a Union Home Ministry spokesman, "the meeting today asked DoT to convey to service providers and RIM that the BES and messanger services be made accessible to Legal Enforcement Agencies (LEA) and find a technical solution by August 31.

"If a technical solution is not found by August 31, government will review the position and take steps to block these two services. As of now voicemail, SMS and Blackberry Internet Services (BIS) have been made available to the LEA," the spokesman said.

Today's discussion was aimed at finalising the government strategy towards BlackBerry phone which is facing the threat of being blocked in the country if telecom service providers do not address government's security concerns.

Ahead of the meeting, a top official of RIM, which has nearly one million subscribers in the country and has a growing market, made a courtesy call on Home Minister P Chidambaram.

Last week, BlackBerry had made a fresh attempt to break the logjam over its services in India by offering "metadata" and relevant information to security agencies which will enable them to lawfully intercept communication on such phones but it failed to enthuse them.

RIM representatives explained that BlackBerry mobile device sends encrypted emails, which is sent to BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) located with the service provider.

BES decrypts messages and sends it to the email server of the service provider where it remains stored in decrypted form. Then it is pushed to the BlackBerry device in encrypted.

Read more: BlackBerry told to provide access by Aug 31 or face ban - India Business - Business - The Times of India BlackBerry told to provide access by Aug 31 or face ban - India Business - Business - The Times of India

 

[eric_cartman]

very nice it shd be banned, btw an interesting question, how does BB operates in China? I am 100% sure Chinese govt doesn't give **** to these encryption, security and individual privacy concerns?

 

[Gene]

Voice services of the blackberry will not be banned.
only services like blackberry messenger,corporate mail will be banned...

if blackberry do not care abt india's concern,it will be better to ban it.

 

[Roby]

India to target Google, Skype messaging next: FT

SINGAPORE: India may shut down Google and Skype Internet-based messaging services over security concerns, the Financial Times reported on Friday, as the government threatened a similar crackdown on BlackBerry services.

The Financial Times quoted from the minutes of a July 12 meeting between telecommunication ministry security officials and operator associations to look at possible solutions to “intercept and monitor” encrypted communications.

“There was consensus that there more than one type of service for which solutions are to be explored. Some of them are BlackBerry, Skype, Google etc,” according to the department's minutes. “It was decided first to undertake the issue of BlackBerry and then the other services.”

On Thursday, the Indian government became the latest of several nations that have threatened to cut off Research In Motion's encrypted BlackBerry email and instant messaging services if the Canadian company does not address national security concerns.

India has set an Aug 31. deadline for RIM. It wants access in a readable format to encrypted BlackBerry communication, on grounds it could be used by militants.

India's demands follow a deal with Saudi Arabia, where a source said Research In Motion agreed to give authorities codes for BlackBerry Messenger users. The United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and Algeria also seek access.

Officials say RIM had proposed tracking emails without sharing encryption details, but that was not enough.

The Financial Times report said representatives from two of the telecom operator associations present confirmed the details of the meeting earlier this month.

“At the last security meeting, the agencies were talking about BlackBerry. They were also coming out heavily on Skype and Google,” said Rajesh Chharia, president of the Internet Service Providers Association of India.

A shutdown would affect one million users in India out of the smartphone's 41 million users. India is one of RIM's fastest growing markets.

RIM, unlike rivals Nokia and Apple, operates its own network through secure servers located in Canada and other countries, such as Britain.

RIM's shares ended more than 2 per cent lower at C$56.44 in the Toronto market.

In a matter of a few weeks, the BlackBerry device - long the darling of the world's CEOs and politicians, including US President Barack Obama - has become a target for its sealed email and messaging services with governments around the world. – Reuters

 

[third eye]

Blackberry makes offer to India ahead of ban deadline

BBC News - Blackberry makes offer to India ahead of ban deadline

Blackberry-maker Research in Motion has said it is willing to work with India to support the country's need for "lawful access" to encrypted services.

RIM and the Indian government are holding last-minute talks ahead of a 31 August deadline, when a ban on the devices is due to begin.

India wants the ability to monitor secure e-mail and instant messaging services provided by the firm.

RIM maintains that it does not do "specific deals" with countries.

The firm said that it had now offered to "lead an industry forum focused on supporting the lawful access needs of law enforcement agencies".
It said that the forum - which would include other telecoms firms - would work with the Indian government to develop "policies and processes aimed at preventing the misuse of strong encryption technologies".
'Master key'

India, along with many other countries, believes the device and the Blackberry infrastructure used by business customers are a threat to national security.

The country fears the device could be used by militants and insurgents in a repeat of the 2008 attack on Mumbai that left 166 people dead.

Blackberry handsets automatically scramble messages and send them to servers in Canada and other countries.

Authorities have said they want access to these messages and the keys to decrypt them to counter terrorism and criminal activity.

But RIM has said that it "does not possess a 'master key', nor does any 'back door' exist in the system that would allow RIM or any third party, under any circumstances, to gain access to encrypted corporate information".

It said that "singling out and banning" Blackberry would be "ineffective and counter-productive" as many other networks used similar encryption techniques.

The firm said finding a solution to meet the needs of governments and prevent the misuse of encryption was an industry-wide problem.

A representative of the Indian government could not be immediately reached to respond to RIM's latest offer.

Earlier today, Shri Sachin Pilot, the Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology, said that "services which can not be intercepted and monitored in readable format may be banned by the government".

It has already sent formal notices to the country's mobile operators telling them they must have equipment to monitor Blackberry services by 31 August.

Earlier on Thursday, a spokesperson for India's Home Ministry confirmed to the BBC that "technical discussions" were ongoing with RIM.

No official confirmation is expected until next week, he said.