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Govt asks telcos to set up BlackBerry intervention facilities

New Delhi,

Ahead of the deadline given by the government to BlackBerry-maker RIM for addressing security concerns, the government has asked telecom operators to set up legal intervention facilities for such services.

The Department of Telecom (DoT) has sent a communication to nine operators that are currently offering BlackBerry services, including state-owned BSNL and MTNL, to enable legal intervention (LI) for messenger and enterprise mail services on the handset by August 31. When contacted, a senior DoT official confirmed the move. A Tata Teleservices spokesperson said, "We have received a letter from DoT asking us to ensure that Legal Intervention (LI) capability is put in place for Blackberry services by August 31, 2010. As a Tata Group company, we have always abided by the law of the land and will do so here too." Nine leading telecom firms offer BlackBerry services in the country, including government-owned BSNL and MTNL and other leading private players Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, RCom and the Tatas, and have a cumulative subscriber base of nearly one million for this service. Meanwhile, BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion (RIM) today indicated to the government that they will start offering a solution to the government's concerns about BlackBerry messenger services from September 1 and will complete the project within the next four months. Telecom Minister A Raja today said in the Lok Sabha in a written reply to a question that "no explicit permission has been given by the government to start BlackBerry services in the country without setting up a server." The security agencies are unable to intercept and monitor BlackBerry services because of complex encrypted communication and non-availability of BlackBerry servers in India, says an internal noting of the DoT. This is despite the fact that the government has formulated a policy regarding Internet services. As per the policy, the licencees (operators) have to ensure that bulk encryption was not deployed by Internet Service Providers. Furthermore, individuals, groups and organisations are permitted to use encryption up to a 40-bit key length without obtaining permission from the licensor. However, for deploying encryption equipment with a higher limit, prior permission has to be obtained and the decryption key has to be deposited with the government, the DoT said. BlackBerry is a handset used for various kinds of services like voice, SMS and email, the DoT note said, adding that law enforcement agencies were not able to intercept certain types of communications like enterprise email services, which use a complex encryption method. The government is in talks with service providers and BlackBerry to find out a solution for interception and monitoring of such services.