
Member • Mar 3, 2013
Indian Government Wants Blackberry Data - 'Security' Is The Reason

Blackberry had been reluctant in sharing the information of their users with Indian officials. However, the company has now decided to comply with all the security related norms laid out by Indian officials and has allowed the officials to intercept all the communication happening through their servers. Moreover, the interception will be in real time, giving government 'as required' access to Blackberry user data.
The security agencies found out that the email attachments which were being dispatched over the BB Internet services could not be downloaded. The Indian Government officials have reportedly been negotiating with Blackberry to have a list of all the PIN (aka Personal Identity Number) and associated International Mobile Equipment Identification (IMEI) number, so that suspicious users can be tracked globally.
India remains an important market for Blackberry to let go of their presence because of security related policies the company has set. Blackberry had earlier agreed to setup all their servers in India to comply with the requirements of Indian Government.
We however are surprised to see how Government is dealing with Blackberry. One may argue that it's justified because it may have implications on national security. However, there are several ways communication can happen which Government is unable to control.
We'd like to ask our users their opinion whether Indian Government is justified in demanding all of Blackberry's user data? What do you think?