RIM gives Indian authorities access to messenger services

RIM has given Indian authorities access to its BlackBerry Messenger and public email services, according to widespread reports.

An update was sent to customers in the country confirming the decision, which comes after demands by Indian authorities for access to all of RIM's services by 31 January.

"The lawful access capability now available to RIM's carrier partners meets the standard required by the government of India for all consumer messaging services offered in the Indian marketplace," the update statement reportedly said.

"No changes can be made to the security architecture for BlackBerry BES customers since, contrary to any rumours, the security architecture is the same around the world and RIM truly has no ability to provide its customers' encryption keys."

V3.co.uk contacted RIM for direct comment on the matter, but had not received a reply at the time of publication.

RIM has been involved in this issue with the Indian authorities for several months as the government believes that terrorists are able to take advantage of BlackBerry encryption tools to co-ordinate attacks, such as in Mumbai on 26 November.

Google and Skype have also been warned to expect similar demands as the Indian government looks to clamp down on services that it believes terrorists could use.

Other nations have already achieved similar concessions from RIM on the firm's BlackBerry Internet Service, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

RIM agreed on Monday to meet the demands of the Indonesian government over the filtering of adult content on BlackBerry services.