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India in talks with RIM for access to corporate e-mails
By siliconindia
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Wednesday, 22 September 2010, 22:49 IST
New Delhi: If everything goes fine, the popular BlackBerry phones maker Research in Motion will be able to resolve the issues with India over data security. The Indian governemnt is in talks with RIM to gain access to BlackBerry corporate e-mails after securing access to instant messages sent via the devices, according to a senior government source, reports Reuters.
India, which along with several other countries has expressed concerns that BlackBerry services could be used to stir political or social instability, had threatened RIM with a ban if it were denied access to data.
The Home Ministry said on August 30 that the Canadian firm had offered several ways to allow authorities to monitor BlackBerry communications. The government said it would check their feasibility over the next 60 days. India had threatened to shut off RIM's encrypted e-mail and instant messaging services unless it gained access to them, in a campaign driven by fears that unmonitored e-mail and messaging puts the country's security at risk.
Saudi Arabia, nervous over services such as online pornography, has reached a deal with RIM on access to the BlackBerry Messenger instant messaging service, a consumer product that operates outside of the secure corporate domain, according to government sources.
"They have started giving us access to messenger service from September 1," the government source said on. "Discussions are under way so that we get access to the other service, which is corporate e-mail, so that we can read it in readable format."
Robert Crow, a Vice President at RIM, met Home Secretary Gopal Pillai and other senior officials on Tuesday, the government source said. Crow refused to comment on the nature of discussions after the meeting.
India's efforts to monitor BlackBerry traffic could have an impact on the shape of India's mobile phone market, the world's fastest-growing, and possibly hand gains to Apple and Nokia, BlackBerry's two biggest smartphone rivals in India.