BlackBerry optimistic of resolving security issue

New Delhi, Aug 13 (PTI) Faced with August 31 deadline
to address India's security concerns, BlackBerry maker
Research In Motion Friday said it was "optimistic" of
resolving with the Government the issue of lawful interception
of its services.
A three-member delegation of Research in Motion led by
Vice-President Robert E Crowe Friday met Home Secretary G K
Pillai to discuss government's notice to telecom operators and
RIM to make available before August 31 lawful interception of
BlackBerry Enterprise Services (BES) and BlackBerry Messenger
Services (BBM) to security agencies.
"I am optimistic," Crowe told reporters after a half-an-
hour meeting with Pillai.
The Government has set the August 31 deadline for
Canada-based RIM and telecom operators to address its security
concerns failing which some of the mobile phone's popular
services would be shut down.
In a letter to to the Department of Telecom Secretary P
J Thomas, Pillai has 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.
The letter was sent after a meeting chaired by Pillai in
which representatives of security agencies, Telecom Department
and top brass of state-owned BSNL and MTNL were present.
According to a Union Home Ministry spokesman, "The
meeting today asked DoT to convey to service providers and RIM
that the BES and messanger services be made accessible to
legal enforcement agencies (LEA) and a technical be found.
"If a technical solution is not found by August 31,
government will review the position and take steps to block
these two services. As of now, voicemail, SMS and BlackBerry
Internet Services (BIS) have been made available to the LEA,"
the spokesman said.
The discussion was aimed at finalising the government
strategy towards BlackBerry phone which is facing the threat
of being blocked in the country if telecom service providers
do not address government's security concerns.
Ahead of the meeting, a top official of RIM, which has a
growing market, made a courtsey call on Indian Home Minister P
Chidambaram.
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 which would
enable them to lawfully intercept communication on such phones
but it failed to enthuse them.
RIM representatives explained that BlackBerry mobile
device sends encrypted emails, which is sent to BlackBerry
Enterprise Server (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 device in encrypted
form.
The UAE had recently banned Blackberry services. PTI ACB
KAB