By Kat Asharya | Tue Aug 31, 2010 11:58 am |
India has withdrawn its threat to ban BlackBerry services for at least two more months, after Research in Motion agreed to give security officials "lawful access" to its encrypted data.
Research in Motion will give India access to secure BlackBerry data beginning September 1, a government source said on Monday.
Starting September 1, the Waterloo, Ontario-based company will provide Indian security agencies "some technical solutions" to monitor BlackBerry encrypted email service. Both RIM and the Indian government have declined to elaborate on what these solutions were.
India will begin implementing these solutions immediately and will decide in 60 days whether these measures address their security concerns.
RIM has been caught in a spate of disagreements with countries over the issue of government access to the information passed over RIM's secure devices. It has has been built a reputation on strong data security, but several other countries, like Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, have expressed concerns that RIM's data encryption makes it difficult to monitor possible terrorist activity.
Indian officials have said it has the right to demand access to data, as stated in the terms of license agreements with its carriers. But RIM has been reluctant to agree to the demands. However, the threat of bans in these countries compromises RIM's expansion into these emerging markets and has sent stock prices falling.
RIM's situation in India echoes a similar one in Saudi Arabia, where the government decided to suspend a possible BlackBerry ban. RIM had reached a preliminary agreement with Saudi officials to place a server in the country to allow easier access to data for monitoring, but it is unclear whether this agreement will hold permanently within the borders.
For now, RIM has gained a two-month reprieve in India as government official work out whether or not the proposed solutions will be enough to allay its concerns. But judging from the growing list of countries threatening to ban the popular devices, it is clear that this issue will not be going away any time soon.
|