RIM offers tech solution to Govt

Makes clear only legal monitoring to be allowed.

Faced with an August 31 deadline, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) today took a step to end the logjam with the home ministry by agreeing to provide a technical solution on the issue of interception of its services. The ministry said it would take a call only after evaluating it.

Official sources, without elaborating, said the Canadian smartphone maker had proposed certain ways to address India's security concerns over BlackBerry Enterprise Services (BES) and BlackBerry Messenger Services (BBM), for which it is seeking access in the country.

This figured when RIM Vice-President Robert E Crowe met Home Secretary G K Pillai today. However, the Indian government made it clear that it would take a decision only after experts evaluate the proposal.

Crowe, who led a three-member delegation, discussed the government's August 31 deadline for RIM and telecom operators to address its security concerns.

The government had warned that failure by service providers and RIM to comply with its direction would result in some of the mobile phone's popular services being shut down in the country.

The Centre wants RIM to make available lawful interception of BES and BBM to security agencies. "I am optimistic," Crowe told reporters after a half-an-hour meeting with Pillai.

In a letter to to the Department of Telecom (DoT) Secretary P J Thomas, Pillai had asked him to convey to the operators and RIM that a technical solution to make available lawful interception of BES and BBM must be found out by the stated deadline.

There are an estimated one million BlackBerry subscribers in the country. In Toronto, RIM in a statement on Thursday said it would allow Indian security agencies only to do legal monitoring of data of its subscribers, although India has asked the smartphone vendor to provide access to e-mail and messenger data.

Last week, BlackBerry had made a fresh attempt to break the logjam over its services in India by offering "metadata" and relevant information to security agencies that would enable them to lawfully intercept communication on such phones but it failed to enthuse them.

RIM representatives explained that BlackBerry mobile device sent encrypted emails, which is sent to BES located with the service provider. BES decrypts messages and sends it to the email server of the service provider where it remains stored in decrypted form. Then it is pushed to the BlackBerry in encrypted form.