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13 Aug 2010
The Indian government has said that it will pursue Google, Skype and other communications providers as part of a crackdown on terrorism.
An unreleased document outlines the government's intention to intercept and monitor traffic being sent through various communications channels, according to a report in The Financial Times.
The minutes of a meeting between India's Department of Telecommunications (DOT) (Security Wing) and operator associations suggest that the government decided to deal with RIM's BlackBerry services before concentrating on the likes of Google.
"There was a consensus that there [is] more than one type of service for which solutions are to be explored. Some of them are BlackBerry, Skype, Google etc. It was decided first to undertake the issue of BlackBerry and then the other services," the minutes read.
The FT report also said that Rajesh Chharia, president of the Internet Service Providers Association of India, confirmed the details of the meeting.
"At the last security meeting, the agencies were talking about BlackBerry. They were also coming out heavily on Skype and Google. They are tackling them one by one," Chharia is reported as saying.
India has clamped down on RIM in the past few days, demanding that the firm provides access to data sent via BlackBerry Messenger and BlackBerry Enterprise Services.
"If a technical solution is not provided by 31 August 2010, the government will review the position and take steps to block these two services from the network," said the Indian authorities in a statement released yesterday.
The government is taking the steps as part of a drive to combat terrorism after the attack in Mumbai in 2008 that killed 166 people. The attackers are widely believed to have used certain mobile technologies to communicate undetected.
The move follow similar demands from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and Kuwait that RIM provides access to communications sent via the firm's secure servers overseas.
In a statement sent to V3.co.uk Skype said, "we have not received any confirmation or directive from DoT on this matter; and therefore are unable to comment at this stage."
V3.co.uk also contacted Google but was still waiting for a response at the time of writing.
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Do you agree?
India's big brother
If I had a Blackberry or any other device and thought a Government, especially outside of Europe, had access to my 'phone calls and texts, or use of Google, etc. Then I would stop doing business and/or visiting that country. Perhaps if no one goes to the Commonwealth Games in India they will get the message!
Posted by: MK22 13 Aug 2010
And so it begins
Well it didn't take long for countries to jump on that bandwagon did it, as per my other post it would seem big brother or in this case big India is looking to nosey through your communications any which way they can. Maybe they should ban cars too as they can be used for terrorism too.
Posted by: Carl Dean 13 Aug 2010