New Delhi: The deadlock over BlackBerry services has ended for now. But the Government is now turning its focus to the Skype and the Gmail. A notice will be sent to them on Tuesday on getting the Government access to their data.
Skype and Gmail may face the heat as the Government will demand access to their data.
BlackBerry services won't be banned just yet - the Home Ministry gave BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) 60 days to provide access to its messenger and email services.
Over the next two months, the Home Ministry will study the feasibility of RIM's new proposals which will be operationalised immediately.
There are over a million subscribers of BlackBerry services in India. A majority of them are corporates.
The meeting was chaired by Home Secretary GK Pillai and was attended by Special Secretary (Internal Security) UK Bansal and officials from the telecom department, the Intelligence Bureau and the National Technical Research Organisation.
The government had set a August 31 deadline for RIM to provide access to its messenger and enterprise solutions, which routed encrypted data through company-owned servers, making it virtually impossible for any agency to track such data.
The Home Ministry had asked RIM to give access to its encrypted data or face a ban, saying such devices could be misused by terrorists and others.
"RIM has made certain proposals for lawful access by law enforcement agencies and these would be operationalised immediately," the statement added.
RIM will; however, have to work with the telecom department to work out a feasible solution to grant access to its messaging and enterprise solutions, the statement said.
During the meeting, home ministry officials said any communication through the telecom networks should be accessible by the law enforcement agencies and all telecom service providers, including third parties, will have to comply with this.
"Ministry of Home Affairs will review the situation within 60 days, by which time the department of telecommunication is expected to submit its report," said the statement.
"The feasibility of the solution offered would be assessed thereafter," it added.
(With inputs from IANS)
Comments
0 comment