Indian gov: Let us into BlackBerry or we'll shut you down

The Indian government has tightened the screw on Canadian push-email pioneer Research In Motion (RIM) in the ongoing dispute over official interception of BlackBerry email. Reports now indicate that if RIM won't open up its encypted messaging to Indian spooks, it won't be permitted to do business in the subcontinent. According …

[amanfromMars]

NEUKlearer Trade Secrets.... Virtual Gen Gems

‘Indian gov: Let us into BlackBerry or we'll shut you down’ ..... If you have their Raison D'Etre have you hacked right into their Kernel Communications. And that is but usually only Words Documented away

[Gerry Keen]

Does any other country intercept already?

or is India pitching for the number 1 spot.

[Oli]

of course the real scandal / tragedy is....

"Western governments are widely believed to enjoy such access." ......in other words your secure email is .....not secure.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Western governments are widely believed to enjoy such access."

Really!? what's the point of all of RIM's encryption then?

[Jamie]

Honesty

It is a word not known to politicians as they are worried about "Security" and "Intelligence".

Paranoia is an excuse thought up by the gov't to state that they are doing nothing wrong.

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean there is...

...something NOT outsourced to India???

[Anonymous Coward]

How much access does the US have?

"Western governments are widely believed to enjoy such access."

If there are servers in the US and UK and RIM seem not to be to keen to give others access to those servers, the question now is, how much access does the US and UK have to those servers? Can they only snop on their own citizens or do they have the authority to snop on anyone from any country? (they are hosting the servers after all) Also, does that mean that the French authority have "no" access to RIM servers? what about the Germans?

The Indian government demand is understandable, you can think of it as the FBI wishing to snop on a US citizen (which is legal as long as they have a court order). The reason for the snoping is none of our concern as long as it is legally done according to the local laws (yes they do have laws). And if the French or Germans have access to those servers, I really don't see why other governments can't have access to them.

Any way, considering the size of the Indian and Chines markets, I am surprised that RIM haven't opened local offices (server farms) yet.

[Ian Michael Gumby]

This is the perfect opportunity to test the theory of capitalism vs govt control...

On one side, you have the capitalistic marketplace which love their crackberries.

Business users feel more productive and that they have a technical edge over their competition with their crackberry.

I'll admit, I had one until it died after 4 years of service. I switched to the Nokia E90 because I wanted a larger keyboard.

On the other hand, you have a governement that is caught in a catch 22 position.

They want/need to protect their country and unless they can intercept bad guys, they don't feel safe. On the other hand, they don't want to limit their new found capitalism.

Which wins out? The desire to "protect" their boarders, to to grow their economy?

Whatever RIM does, I hope they don't cave in...

[amanfromMars]

@This is the perfect opportunity to test the theory of capitalism vs govt control...

Well certainly capitalist control would be a change from government mismanagement.

And Make Life Easier and more Pleasant would also be Better.

[Vijay Jairaj]

@Western governments are widely believed to enjoy such access

Apparently, RIM is compliant with US laws that require US Govt to be able to intercept comms.

The article in the Economic Times is at

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Telecom/Open_code_or_shut_shop_DoT_tells_RIM/articleshow/3084129.cms

Read the last few lines on CALEA '94

[Adam Williamson]

In practical terms...

In theoretical terms, obviously I'd be firmly against giving any government a backdoor to an entire company's email system. But in *practical* terms, let's face it, this doesn't make much of a difference. I'm amused by someone's comment above:

"in other words your secure email is .....not secure."

Come on...*please* tell me people haven't forget that email is inherently insecure by design. You should always work under the assumption that basically anyone at all can read anything you send unencrypted via email, it doesn't require shadowy government collusion with your service provider. If you're sending anything at all that you'd rather the whole world couldn't potentially see, you need to encrypt it, properly.

[amanfromMars]

MPs ..... on the JAGBeat.

"Apparently, RIM is compliant with US laws that require US Govt to be able to intercept comms." .... By Vijay Jairaj Posted Monday 2nd June 2008 14:04 GMT .....and therefore have Proxy Control of Intelligence Supply..... and only Really from a Virtually Assumed Position of Authority ...which is QuITe Easily Subverted to Personal and Perverted Public Abuse.

[Curtis]

@amanfromMars

I need a pint, he's starting to make sense...

[Anonymous Coward]

"capitalist control would be a change from government mismanagement."

The UK has had both - capitalist control, with Tony Bliar mismanaging it and Gordon Broon now doing the same - for far too long now for anyone to be able to spot the difference.

Same goes for the USA too but I can't think of the names of the monkeys in charge, some company called PNAC and a guy called George?

What planet are you on, man? Better to stick to your usual incomprehensible tosh than be demonstrably wrong, right?

[Anonymous Coward]

Western governments are widely believed to enjoy such access?

That is a pretty inflammatory statement. Can El Reg prove it?

The Indian Government wants access because India is still a petty police state, plain & simple. And criminals & terrorists who would use email use independent cryptography & stenography anyways, so all the Indian Government really wants to do is perform industrial espionage on visiting business people & spy on Indian rival politicians. India is a banana republic and always will be.

[David Love]

In practical terms 2...

Can't see what all the fuss is about. As soon as your BlackBerry syncs with an Exchange server, doesn't that message then become visible to the server's admin?

[amanfromMars]

Comprehension lacking, AC, paints a Hazy Picture

"The UK has had both - capitalist control, with Tony Bliar mismanaging it and Gordon Broon now doing the same - for far too long now for anyone to be able to spot the difference." ... By Anonymous Coward Posted Monday 2nd June 2008 16:56 GMT

Thank you for proving the valid point, admirably, AC, with the failure being thinking that politicians control capitalists and capitalism, whenever they are such a Rag, Tag and Bobtail Mob. They can only do that if they are Leaders of Men who are not easily Led and they're as rare as hen's Teeth.

[Paul Smith]

Politicians and technology don't mix

CALEA allows for the 'legal intercept' of voice communications and access to call records. It does not cover emails.

[Don S.]

Really?

Sounds like a RIM job to me.

Coat please.