An ultimatum to phone manufacturer Blackberry until August 31 was issued by India Thursday. The deadline was set to allow the government access of highly encrypted data from the company or else it would face a ban on its popular messaging systems.The government wants access to Blackberry’s Enterprise Service and Messenger Service.
India is wary of the Blackberry’s real-time messaging services because the encryption can not be seen by its intelligence agencies and may expose the nation to security threats.
“If a technical solution is not provided by 31st August 2010, the government will review the position and take steps to block these two services from the network,” a press release announced.
Blackberry is eager to tap a booming wireless market in India with its millions of potential customers.
Research in Motion (RIM), manufacturer of Blackberry devices, has so far not commented on the ultimatum.
India is one of the world’s biggest democratic countries, and analysts say it is odd for the government to impose such restrictions on communication. But the country also has legitimate security concerns and many terrorist attacks are being carried out against it periodically, and relations with its neighbor Pakistan remain tense.
Mumbai was attacked in November 2008 by suspected Pakistani elements which killed 160 people.
India would be blindsided if terrorists used Blackberries to plot an attack without the intelligence services monitoring them, said Vikram Sood, a former intelligence officer.
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