Bally Chohan says that the India’s Ministry of Home Affairs has set August 31st as deadline for RIM (Research In Motion), manufacturers of BlackBerry to block BlackBerry corporate e-mail and messaging services until the RIM makes them accessible to the security agencies of India.
In addition to India, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have also threatened to cut off services from BlackBerry unless they are provided with desired access to use’s information. These countries have also cited the same security related reasons. The main point of concern is the way information sent by the cell phone users that get routed through overseas servers.
Bally Chohan says that the government of India has requested RIM (Research in Motion) to make available the encrypted BlackBerry communications to its security agencies. The main concern of the government of India is that these services could easily be used by militant groups to communicate.
Government of India has cited the example of Mumbai attack where almost ten heavily armed gunmen used cell and satellite phones to communicate with their handlers based somewhere in Pakistan.
The manufacturers of BlackBerry, Research In Motion Ltd are yet to comment on India’s request. They believe that the discussions with regulators around the world are private and cannot be shared.
The announcement of setting up of deadline of 31st August came after a meeting of India’s home secretary with the representatives of security agencies and official from telecommunication department.
The United Arab Emirates has also called for a sweeping ban on all BlackBerry services. Major telecom players like DU and Etisalat have already started to offer replacement schemes and other attractive offers to its consumers. The government of United Arab Emirates plans to shut off the services in October unless there is a compromise with Research In Motion Ltd. As of now the representatives of Research in Motion Ltd are in constant touch with United Arab Emirates government officials and are trying to negotiate (as reported by the Khaleej Times).
The government of Saudi Arabia has also ordered a ban on all BlackBerry services across the kingdom last week. However the services were allowed to continue for now citing some very positive developments.
