Indian carriers said ready to snoop BlackBerry messaging
updated 04:35 pm EDT, Thu September 23, 2010
Indian carriers upgraded networks for BB snooping
Two major Indian carriers informed the government their networks are newly upgraded and now ready to let government agencies monitor messages sent through BlackBerry smartphones, a Thursday report maintained. Bharti Airtel and Tata Teleservices have worked with RIM after the BlackBerry maker was given a 60-day extension. One unnamed source said the new networks were tested by a team consisting of members representing the operators, security agencies and RIM.
The test reports were taken as compliance reports. Indian law requires carriers to make sure security agencies are able to access all services they provide. India's Department of Telecommunications gave carriers until Wednesday for the network update.
RIM is trying to balance the security needs of the government with the privacy of individuals and companies using its services. It claims that BlackBerry security is so secure because the encryption keys are only available to the sender and sending parties, making it impossible for RIM to create a backdoor for access to every message.
