Not satisfied with RIM's Messenger solution: Govt

The government today said the country's security agencies have expressed dissatisfaction over the solution provided by BlackBerry smartphone maker Research In Motion (RIM).

"For BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) services, a solution has been offered by RIM but the Security Agencies are not satisfied with the solution," Minister of State for IT and Communications Sachin Pilot said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

The government has asked RIM to handover interception solution for its BlackBerry Internet Services (BIS), BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) and BlackBerry Enterprise Servers (BES) by January 31, 2011.

RIM later claimed it has given government solution to intercept BIS and BBM before the stipulated timeline but denied to have any solution to intercept BES.

Pilot on his part said: "RIM has not yet given the solution for interception of their BlackBerry Enterprise Services (BES). According to RIM, they do not have any key for this service because communication offered through this service is dynamically encrypted.

The Minister mentioned the message in text can be obtained from Enterprise Email servers, where it is in readable format.

Enterprise Email servers are deployed for corporate houses.

According to Indian Telegarph Act, 1885 and the licensing term and condition of telecom service providers, it is required for companies to provide Lawful Interception and Monitoring solution for any service they provide.

However, in case of BlackBerry secuirty agencies are only able to intercept voice (phone calls), SMS and BIS.