India threatens to suspend BlackBerry by 31 August

http://timesofearth.com/Business/?NT=4&nid=26065 New Delhi, India - India has given the maker of the Blackberry smartphone until August 31 to address the its concerns over security or face having its services suspended.
The authorities requested that Research In Motion (RIM), the Canadian manufacturer of the Blackberry, provide them access to encrypted communications, saying that they could be used by armed groups carrying out attacks.

The perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which killed 166 people, used mobile and satellite phones to co-ordinate the three-day rampage.

"If a technical solution is not provided by August 31, 2010, the government will review the position and take steps to block" encrypted email and messenger services, the ministry of home affairs said in a statement on Thursday.

The ministry also said that mobile phone operators would be obliged by law to shut these services if RIM failed to meet the demands.

The announcement came few hours after the ministry of home affairs held talks with intelligence officials and state-run telecom operators BSNL and MTNL.

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

Meanwhile, RIM declined to comment on the deadline.

The Indian demands follow RIM's deal with Saudi Arabia, which allowed government access to its encrypted data. But while Saudi Arabia has only targeted the instant messaging service, India seeks access to both email and messenger.

A shutdown would affect one million Blackberry users, who would only be able to use the phone for calls and internet browsing if it goes ahead.

India is the world's fastest expanding cellular market and one of RIM's key growth areas.

This year, India restricted imports of Chinese telecoms network equipment over security fears. It is also worried about the introduction of 3G wireless services with no monitoring system in place.

Both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have threatened earlier to cut off Blackberry services unless they get greater access to user information, citing security concerns.

India, Lebanon, Algeria and Indonesia have all raised similar national security concerns about their lack of access to Blackberry data.

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

An estimated 2.8 million emails are now sent every second. Experts say governments will simply not be able to track the tidal wave of information flowing around the world.

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