BlackBerry access sought by 31 Aug
BlackBerry access sought by 31 Aug
New Delhi: The home ministry has given Research In Motion Ltd (RIM) until the end of the month to provide access to information on BlackBerry services or face the suspension of some of its offerings because of security concerns.
Security agencies have to be given access to communications over the BlackBerry enterprise server (BES) in the country by 31 August, the ministry’s spokesperson said.
The decision was taken at a 15-minute meeting called by the ministry and attended by officials from the Directorate of Intelligence Bureau, the National Technical Research Organization, the department of telecommunications (DoT) and state-run telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd .
DoT was asked to tell the phone companies that two services—BES and instant messenger—be made accessible to security and intelligence agencies by the deadline, extended from 31 July.
“RIM through DoT and service providers has been asked to find a technical solution to provide access to both BES and messenger services," home ministry spokesperson Onkar Kedia said. “If they cannot find any solution, then the government will start taking action to block BlackBerry services."
He said RIM has already provided access to other BlackBerry services such as BlackBerry Internet server, voice and SMS. “Since we have been given access to these services, the government will not ban them."
Also See | How the encryption works (PDF)
Last week, BlackBerry sought to break the logjam over its services, used by more than 500,000 users in India, offering access to metadata and other information.
Home ministry officials said this was only 50% of what was needed.
RIM was not part of the Thursday meeting, the home ministry said. Robert E. Crow, RIM’s vice-president for industry, government and university relations, met home minister P. Chidambaram before the meeting.
“It was just a courtesy call," said a government official.
sahil.m@livemint.com
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