Govt wants RIM to give email access

With the deadline for real time access to BlackBerry enterprise services ending today, Home Minister P Chidambaram reiterated that the government will continue to insist for a solution.

The Centre is expected to take a decision soon on whether to allow BlackBerry Enterprise services to operate in India. Although the home ministry was expecting Research In Motion (RIM), the makers of BlackBerry, to find a solution, sources in the government said that it was possible that another extension could be given to the company.

“We have been given a solution to the messenger service, we will insist that they give us the solution for the enterprise services too,” said Chidambaram. He said a decision would be taken by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Telecom Ministry.

However, RIM has said there was no possibility of providing access to its enterprise mail service. “There is no possibility of giving any kind of a solution for interception of enterprise mail services. We don’t have any keys…it is technologically not feasible to give a solution,” said RIM Vice President (Industry, Government and University Relations) Robert Crow.

Crow, who has been leading RIM’s discussions with the government, is also expected to meet Sibal and other officials of Department of Telecommunications (DoT) this week to discuss the issue.

Security agencies had expressed concerns over the encrypted data through BlackBerry mobile phones and have been asking for a decryption solution for its corporate mails and messenger services. RIM, which had averted a ban on its BlackBerry services last year, has already given a solution for intercepting its messenger services this month.

RIM uses powerful codes to encrypt email messages as they travel between BlackBerry devices and a computer known as a BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) that is designed to secure those emails.

It is estimated that there are over one million BlackBerry users in India.

The government had earlier extended the deadline to offer a final solution to January 31, from December 31, 2010 for giving access to its messenger and enterprise services. Prior to this, the deadline was August 31, which was extended by 60 days to October end last year.