Blackberry to be banned in India ?? Security Issues

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BlackBerry Said to Face Possible Ban in India Over Security Considerations - Bloomberg

Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry service may be banned in India unless the Canadian company agrees to resolve security concerns, according to a government official with direct knowledge of the matter.

India has told Research In Motion to set up a proxy server in the country to enable security agencies to monitor e-mail traffic, according to three government officials, who declined to be identified as the information is confidential.

Research In Motion faces increased competition from smartphones including Apple Inc.’s iPhone in India as the world’s second-biggest mobile-phone market prepares to roll out third-generation wireless services. The BlackBerry maker had some services blocked in neighboring Pakistan this year, and the United Arab Emirates is considering tightening security.

“RIM has the best encryption, significant subscribers, and a brand that’s known across the world,” said Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst at Gartner Inc. in Mumbai. “This isn’t the first time a government has had the fear that terrorists could use BlackBerry services for international communication.”

Resolving the concerns is crucial for Research In Motion to maintain its market leadership in India, Gupta said.

Address Concerns

The Waterloo, Ontario-based company has assured the Indian government that it will address the nation’s security concerns, U.K. Bansal, a special secretary in the home ministry, tasked with domestic security, said today.

“Whenever we have concerns we bring that concern out,” he said. “We expect those concerns to be addressed.”

Research In Motion spokesman Satchit Gayakwad declined to say if the company had been contacted by India’s telecommunications department.

“RIM does not disclose confidential regulatory discussions that take place with any government,” Gayakwad said from Mumbai. “However, RIM assures its customers that it is committed to continue delivering highly secure and innovative products that satisfy both the needs of consumers as well as governments.”

India’s three largest mobile phone operators, Bharti Airtel Ltd., Reliance Communications Ltd. and Vodafone Group Plc’s local unit all offer BlackBerry services and phones in India.
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Yeah i read this news in newspaper today morning. Seems they will have to bend in front of government as they cannot afford to stop their operations in India with such a large BB base of users.
 
Err.. can some one explain in brief what is the exact security threat ? How is BB/Nokia push mail different from out normal mails ? :ashamed:.
 
^^We give our mail information(incase of normal gmail/yahoo accs) to these companies...which inturn will use that info to access our mails from gmail servers to their(BB/Nokia) own servers...

So govt is worried that this may not be safe as these companies can exploit the data which is on their servers....

This is just an example. Most of the BB severs content is extremely confidential mails of various corporate companies...
 
^ That's not really the problem here. The real threat is that since Blackberry encrypts their messages in such a way that the government can't look into it. Terrorists can easily use this as a secure way of communicating without the government knowing anything about it.

However, I recall this issue was raised a couple of years ago and IINM the government did get access to their servers.
 
I wish they get banned...

I hear this dialogue at least 2 times in a day from my boss "u r given blackberry's not to flaunt but to take action (and reply) to all mails u get"
 
viralbug said:
^ That's not really the problem here. The real threat is that since Blackberry encrypts their messages in such a way that the government can't look into it. Terrorists can easily use this as a secure way of communicating without the government knowing anything about it.

However, I recall this issue was raised a couple of years ago and IINM the government did get access to their servers.
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Right, so can we expect the same again, let's see.
 
The govt must be really stupid to be thinking this way. "We are dumb enough not to figure out what an email is, so please stop encrypting stuff". :rofl:
 
The problem is, even in western countries like USA there is provision to get any email/sms of any person from the operator with a judge order. Even BB has to comply with that.

Here BB simply put their hands up saying they won't do this as content is not on Indian servers.

This is the main reason govt is after them again. Its not like they will be sitting somewhere monitoring each and every mail. But it should at least be doable when they want to monitor terror suspects, domestic criminals etc. At the moment they can't do that with BES.

Test of the hype that govt wants to monitor every email etc is created by our POS media industry.

Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk.
 
^^ Well no, the problem is that diktats like "ban BB" or "throw out Google" are not result of some well-thought process. They are some random musings of a bored sleuth who wish to hog some limelight and may be promotion. I mean, do you really think that if government gets access to BB servers, all our security issues will be resolved and our intelligence gathering quality will become top notch? And BTW, how many terrorists or local criminals have been found using BB? Most use regular cellphones or regular mails and still the cops sit on their a** all day and can't do anything about it .

Just some rants. You know in recent times which other country feels threatened by BlackBerry: UAE, the fiefdom of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The reasons why UAE wants control off BB servers is exactly the same why India wants it. Go figure.
 
^^ the issue with that post is that its baseless rant.

Its not about one thing making everything better or safe. Its the ability of law enforcement agencies to even gather information if and when needed.

The fact remains that BB will reveal these details to their parent government, but not to Indian authorities. And even UAE wants BB to have servers within the country so that they can be operated within the territorial laws of that country. There is nothing wrong in that.

Our companies are forced to obey the laws of the nations for the part of business in the country where they have offshore branch / office. Then why not same be done for companies like BlackBerry.

What our cops can and will do is whole different matter.

But even in cases of local crimes (including petty crimes, family disputes, social crimes and feuds ) having access to this data with proper warrant can prove to be a big help.
 
Shripad said:
The problem is, even in western countries like USA there is provision to get any email/sms of any person from the operator with a judge order. Even BB has to comply with that.
Here BB simply put their hands up saying they won't do this as content is not on Indian servers.
This is the main reason govt is after them again.
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Well if that's the case, then the govt is right. I didn't bother following up on the whole issue as with all govt opinion on technology, I thought this would be baseless too.
 
@Shripad: The problem with your post is that it's naive.

It's not about intelligence agencies having the ability to gather information when needed. It's simply a wishlist of intelligence so that they can stay relevant despite their ineptitude and lazy and corrupt ways. It is also a wishlist from the government because even though India may not be a police state, there are enough people around who would like to have access to private information that belongs to citizens.

Only a fool will think that India doesn't have a valid security concern, but going after BlackBerry or Google is simply stupid because it will cause more inconvenience to your own citizens than terrorists. It is also waste of resources and time. There are better things that government ought to be doing as far as security of the nation is concerned. Resources are finite and instead of putting them to get some cheap thrills like monitoring BlackBerry communications or reading emails on the web, there can be put to use in a better way on the ground.

But of course, you are not supposed to understand it. Fed terror hype, paranoid rants and faced with imaginary enemies, most of us have learnt to ignore the corrupt and lazy ways of our exalted security agencies.

As far as "our company argument is concerned", I will support that all MNC coming to India are forced to comply with "our laws" the day we bring down corruption from our departments (including judiciary) and the day we get a rock-solid legal framework and institutions that can uphold ethics and norms and not lick the feet of politicians or bureaucrats.

And yes, you talk about the "proper warrant". Does that thing even exist for the local SHO of your area unless you are an MLA? A cop comes to the house of a taxi driver without a warrant, he refuses him entry and he can very well shoot him; place a pistol at the spot and can claim he was a notorious criminal killed in an encounter. The cop will be a f**king hero in next day's newspaper.

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bbthumbhealer said:
RIM's agreed to setup a BB server in India in order to calm down the Indian Govt. and de-encrypt the mails and sms'es as required.
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funny thing is Indian government raised the issue and when there was enough hungama and officials had their fill of spotlight, they are the ones diffusing the situation. For the whole duration, RIM has not commented on the issue. And yes, the babu said a server will be set up in India. But are there any details, anything more than empty talk... the government officials raised the issue and talked cheap and fast. But any logical conclusion?
 
^^ Kafka is the man whom you quote when you want to intimidate your opponents in a debate :) J/K

He was a writer who wrote stories on how bureaucracy functions and how the events are always more absurd and stranger than what we see
 
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