Gmail, BlackBerry and Skype are now under the government scanner

• Thursday, July 01st, 2010

Following the ban of the Chinese telecom instruments in the country, t is now the turn of BlackBerry devices, Gmail and Skype services to come under the government security scanner. The threat of facing a ban from offering their services in India looms over these companies, if they do not comply to ensure that the data that goes through their networks are made available to the security agencies in India. This ultimatum has been given to them by the Department of Telecom (DoT).

The most famous telecom service provides in India namely Reliance communications and Tata of Teleservices are also under the radar due to the inability of the government security agencies to snoop into these networks.

An internal government note has stated “DoT will call the representatives of Research In Motion (manufacturer of Blackberry devices) and Skype and ask them to ensure that the content going through the telecom service providers is in readable format. They have to ensure that this is implemented within 15 days failing which services that do not allow lawful interception on a real-time basis would be blocked/banned”.

To ensure that the Gmail is present in a readable format, the representatives of Google will also be called. A spokesperson from Google has commented that so far they have not received any further communication on this matter from the government. He also stated “We will comment if and when we get any letter from the DoT”.

Decisions have also been taken by the government to modify the information technology laws in the country targeted at those foreign companies that does not require a local license, such that they provide the requisite data by the Indian law enforcement agencies. This law would essentially compel companies suck as Skype to either set up a local server in India, so that the Indian security agencies can track the content easily or provide complete access to the security agencies of their networks.

These recent developments took place during a recent meeting between the Intelligence bureau, the DoT, Ministry of home Affairs (MHA) and the National Technical Research organization which is a scientific setup under the National Security Advisor.

The main problem with these companies is that they offer data services to their uses which are secure and highly encrypted. Keeping a track of this highly encrypted data is proving to be a challenge to the Indian security agencies.
Two years back a similar concern was raised against BlackBerry devices but this issue took a backseat. However this time these concerns would have to address as the intelligence agencies are under tremendous pressure from the Ministry of Home Affairs for resolution of this issue and providing a secure communications network.

Share and Enjoy: