New Delhi — India became the latest government in a long list of national governments that have recently entered into the BlackBerry controversy Thursday by demanding that Research in Motion allow Indian law enforcement access to Blackberry Enterprise Service and Blackberry Messenger Service data by August 31., in the name of national security.
India mounted fresh pressure on Research In Motion today when it gave the company ultimatum for less than three weeks to open two secure BlackBerry services to surveillance by August 31 or face a possible ban on the services.
BlackBerry phones on display at a shop in Mumbai. India is considering a restriction on some services on the smartphone. Photograph: Rajanish Kakade/AP
The ultimatum applies to corporate email routed through the handsets and instant-messaging, which use high levels of encryption and proprietary technology. India wants its law enforcement agencies to have access to the information traveling via BES and BBM for surveillance purposes. The country already has access to BlackBerry voice, text, and Internet services, the ministry said.
If the Canadian-based firm does not comply, the country will “take appropriate steps to block these two services from the network,” India’s Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement.
“The government will examine the position and take steps to block these two services” if the carriers cannot find a technical way to monitor the services, Onkar Kedia, spokesman for India’s Home Ministry, said. Services such as Blackberry internet, voice calls and texting have already been made available to security agencies for monitoring when requested, Mr Kedia said.
“Our missive to RIM and service providers is that if they do not come up with a technical solution by 31 August, then the home ministry will take a view and will shut down BlackBerry Messenger and business enterprises services,” a spokesman for the ministry said.
This hard-line resolution followed by a consultation between Home Secretary G.K. Pillai had with officials from India’s Department of Telecommunications as well as other federal security agencies, to discuss the future of BlackBerry smartphones in the country.
RIM said it has “drawn a tight line” and insisted that any carriers that provide BlackBerry services adhere to four basic principles: the carriers’ capabilities be limited to the strict context of lawful access and national security requirements; the carriers’ capabilities must be technology and vendor neutral; no changes will be made to the security architecture for BlackBerry Enterprise Server customer since; and RIM maintains a consistent global standard for lawful access requirements that does not include special deals for specific countries.
Technology pundits believe India’s tough stance, which follows similar threats in the last two weeks to shut down BlackBerry services. Earlier this month, the United Arab Emirates said it would block BlackBerry services by October 11 over similar concerns. Saudi Arabia followed suit several days later, promising to shut down service by August 6, said on Tuesday some of its regulatory requirements have been satisfied.
Tim Renowden, an analyst at Ovum, said a pattern was now forming of governments having problems with RIM’s technology and taking action. “This is a significant moment. RIM must make a choice about its security architecture and the importance of the security and privacy of its customers, versus the importance of simply being able to operate in these countries,” he said.
Of RIM’s 46 million users worldwide, about 1.1 million BlackBerry owners in India, about 500,000 of which are privately owned and do not incorporate the same security measures as enterprise customers’ devices. RIM’s devices, which have proved popular among corporate customers around the world, offer data protection services different to most other mobile devices, encrypting information and processing it in foreign centers.
A compromise between authorities and RIM could be seen as a concession, and could be precedent-setting for its operations in other countries.
Although RIM refused to comment, a government offical in Saudi Arabia said earlier this week that the company had successfully accomplished “part of the regulatory demands” required to be allowed a temporary reprieve from a ban on some services.
An official for Saudi Arabia’s Communications and Information Technology Commission said RIM and other local telecommunications firms were testing transmitting data through domestic servers.
Meanwhile, countries in Europe, such as Germany, are also putting pressure on RIM to relax its security enough so that communications can be monitored. The German government has urged staffers not to use the BlackBerry, and several ministries have banned them, Reuters reported. And last week, the European Commission rejected the BlackBerry as a handset for its employees, opting instead for Apple’s iPhone and HTC smartphones.