Earlier this month I mentioned that BlackBerry, Gmail & Skype might be banned in India and more recently that the UAE wants access to encrypted info. I expressed my own concerns about RIM allowing access to encrypted info on their servers to intelligence agencies of India, but they’ve decided to “comply” with India’s demands and plan to allow them access.

“Makers of BlackBerry have assured the ministry of home affairs that the issue of monitoring will be sorted out soon. I am sure we will soon be on the same page and our concerns will be addressed,” special secretary (internal security) in home ministry U K Bansal told reporters on the sidelines of a conference organised by FICCI here.

The government has already warned RIM that if it does not comply with the formats that can allow monitoring of emails and SMSes to address security concerns, it will have to close down operations in the country.

Bansal said the department of telecommunication was the nodal authority which made policy and it was working to address the issue raised by the home ministry.

BlackBerry’s server is based in Canada where the encryption level is very high and extremely difficult to crack. Any message going through the Canadian server is encrypted and, therefore, cannot be accessed by intelligence agencies in India.

I can’t help but laugh at that last bit where India complained that RIM’s encryption level was difficult to crack. Military level encryption that’s difficult to crack and track…you don’t say? Personally I don’t think RIM should have complied (slippery slope) but I guess they’re confident they can allow access without jeopardizing total security. What do you think?

via Times Of India