Ban on BlackBerry unlikely

Around five lakh BlackBerry users in India can breathe easy now. A ban on the service is unlikely.

A senior home ministry official said on Thursday that the government is not considering a ban on the service, whose email facility has been a security concern as it does not permit data interception.

Canada-based Research In Motion (RIM), BlackBerry’s makers, said it operates in more than 175 countries and provides “a security architecture that is accepted by security-conscious customers and governments around the world”.     

RIM added that it “respects both the regulatory requirements of government and the security and privacy needs of corporations and consumers”.

The ministry’s special secretary of internal security, UK Bansal, said on the sidelines of a conference on Thursday that RIM has assured the government that it would address its security concerns.

But asked about its talks with the government, RIM’s spokesperson said the company “does not disclose confidential regulatory discussions”.

It may be recalled that in 2008, a similar security concern was raised over BlackBerry. The concern was that data transferred from one BlackBerry phone to another is encrypted and cannot be deciphered. For national security reasons, the Indian government said it has the right to “lawfully intercept” email data, but RIM cited its inability to do so owing to the privacy needs of its consumers and proprietary technology.

After several rounds of talks, the government understood RIM’s point of view and the matter was settled.

The BlackBerry service in India is offered by telecom companies such as Bharti, Vodafone and Reliance Communications.