AFTER BLACKBERRY, NOW INDIA TARGETS GOOGLE AND SKYPE OVER SE

[Daanyeer]

After BlackBerry, now India targets Google and Skype over security fears
By Mail Foreign Service
13th August 2010


India has threatened to shut down Google and Skype internet-based messaging services over security concerns.
Minutes from a meeting between telecommunication ministry security officials and operator associations reveal they were looking at possible solutions to 'intercept and monitor' encrypted communications.
It comes after the Indian government became the latest nation to threaten to cut off Research In Motion's encrypted BlackBerry email and instant messaging services if it did not address national security concerns.

According to the minutes published in the Financial Times, officials said: 'There was a consensus that more than one type of service for which solutions are to be explored.
India has set an August 31 deadline for the Canadian company. It wants access in a readable format to encrypted BlackBerry communication, on the grounds it could be used by militants.
Pakistani-based militants used mobile and satellite phones in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which killed 166 people.
The country's demands followed a deal with Saudi Arabia where RIM agreed to give authorities codes for BlackBerry Messenger users.
The United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and Algeria are also seeking access.
Officials said RIM had proposed to track emails without sharing encryption details, but that was not enough.
The Financial Times report said representatives from two of the telecom operator associations at the meeting confirmed the details.
Rajesh Chharia, president of the Internet Service Providers Association of India, said: 'At the last security meeting, the agencies were talking about BlackBerry.
'They were also coming out heavily on Skype and Google.'
A shutdown would affect one million users in India out of the smartphone's 41 million users. India is one of RIM's fastest growing markets.
RIM, unlike rivals Nokia and Apple, operates its own network through secure servers located in Canada and other countries including Britain.



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[IRONm@N]

Those third world countries are just jealouse about their ppl new found freedom and privacy with blackberry and google and skype and they just using security as their reason to ban them.
their main reason so far has been that they are unable to monitor what is sent or exchange in blackberry, so they want to ban it.