Security agencies here fear that internet-based telephony servies like Skype are being misused by terrorists to bypass monitoring systems linked to mobile phone services. The security meet also decided to ban or block BlackBerry and Skype services in India, if these companies failed to adhere to the 15-day timeline that ends in July, the persons said. ET has a copy of the minutes of this meet.
In a related development, the government has also decided to ask internet giant
Google to ensure that encryptions for its Gmail services in India are in formats that can be monitored by Indian agencies. While Google has not been given a timeframe, the telecom ministry, IB and NTRO, in a note to the Parliamentary Committee looking into security concerns, said the company must comply with the new rules.
The security meet also added that the telecom department and intelligence agencies will summon both
Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communications to check if the high-speed internet services offered by them to their data card customers can be lawfully monitored by security agencies. During the demonstrations, if it is observed that encryptions used by these data card services are at levels that cannot be monitored, these companies will also have to change their security settings.
Formal communications to RIM, Google, Skype, Tatas and RCOM are likely to be sent in the first week of July.
In 2008, the Indian government had threatened to block BlackBerry services unless RIM provided intelligence agencies here access to monitor all data, especially email, routed through these handsets. The government had also insisted that RIM put in place a system that would allow them to intercept data sent through these handsets as it feared that these services could be exploited by terrorists. RIM was also asked to give access to its algorithims so that security agencies here could decrypt messages. After several rounds of talks between the government and RIM, the telecom department in late-2008 had announced that the issue had been resolved.
I'd love to point out who I think the real terrorists are... but I'd probably be killed.
The government seems to give with one hand while they take from the other. In other words, they're allowing stuff (finally) like women and lower-caste people to get educated, but then they take away civil liberties...
Why? Well, we've all seen what happens when people learn to think for themselves... Historically speaking, it's always when the masses begin to become educated that government's have to use FUD to keep people in line.
Terrorists don't spend Rs30k on the latest Blackberry Bold, they buy second-hand Rs500 phones from some black or grey market dealer which has roughly two functions: to call and to SMS. I could be wrong here of course, but I'm merely going on plausibility... they have more important things to spend money on than flashy cellphones.
I would suggest that over 99.99% of Blackberry users are using devices either issued by their workplace or purchased personally for the purpose of staying connected for work... I just purchased a Bold 9700 for my wife this morning for her work, so if BB stops working in India I'm going to be livid!!
Definitely its needed, if its a risk to the security agencies.
It's not a risk. India is the only country that I have ever been to where you have do stupid things like register your WiFi AP.
If all this shit really worked and they were able to accurately monitor everything, 26/11 - and possibly other events - would have been unlikely to have happened. Or, maybe they still would have.
I mean, communications are open in the US and the UK and Spain and all those countries have seen major terrorist events happen on their soil while not actively engaged in wars at the time.
hah. democracy. my arse.
Ironically, for the world's largest democracy, they're acting a lot like a dictatorship.
In my opinion, all this security shit is just a big ****ing financial burden and YOU, the Indian voters, need to step up and tell your government who is boss - remember, in a democracy, people are supposed to control government, not the other way around.
or simply redirecting it to baidu.com 