http://www.techtree.com/India/News/Intelligence_Bureau_Rejects_RIM_Proposal/551-88997-613.html
Techtree News Staff
May 2, 2008
Here's the next episode of the ongoing Blackberry saga... Word has it
that the Intelligence Bureau (IB) has rejected RIM's (Research in
Motion) proposal to decompress data sent from Blackberry to
non-Blackberry phones, reason given being breach of privacy.
RIM claims it had offered to decompress data because Blackberry's
communication network runs on 256-bit advanced data encryption while
Indian security agencies are equipped to intercept signals up to 40-bits
only.
The Intelligence Bureau has rejected the proposal for decompressing data
as this means leaking of information about the person whose data is
being intercepted; basically breach of individual privacy.
The Blackberry soap opera, if you will, has been running for too long
now; the bone of contention being storage of communication between
Blackberry devices on RIM servers based in Canada -- national security
agencies have expressed serious concern over not being able to monitor
this data which might in turn compromise national security.
A week back, the Department of Telecom (DoT) had proposed an interim
solution wherein data exchanged between Blackberry users would be stored
on the servers of telecom operators who provide the service in the
country for a period of one year. In the meantime, DoT had also asked
RIM to move some of its servers to India so that national security
agencies could monitor Blackberry traffic.
And amidst all of this, India has assured Canada that the commercial
interests of RIM, makers of Blackberry, would be kept in mind while
taking a final decision.
Received on Mon May 5 02:49:34 2008