Thread: RIM's guidelines won't let India spy on BlackBerry email

Research In Motion confirmed on Thursday that it will not give the Indian government access to transferred email data sent to and from BlackBerry smartphones in its country.

“There is no possibility of us providing any kind of a solution,” RIM VP Robert Crow said to reporters. “There is no solution. There are no keys to be handed.”

Last year India requested access to email and other services as part of larger efforts to monitor security threats within the country. RIM caved a bit and gave the Indian government access to its BlackBerry Messenger service earlier this month, but complex email encryption will not allow RIM to provide similar access to its email services. Is RIM doing the right thing here? Does India have a strong enough case to request the encrypted data?

Way to go, RIM!

Originally Posted by AvonleaCM

Way to go, RIM!

The thing is, having a secure network means also having limits on 3 party access to that data. I'm sure the Indian government knew all along that RIM was most likely not going to comply, but they pushed them anyway.

I think Indian Govt. has a case as we know the situation in India. But if RIM caves in it seems from the past experiences that it may be misused too. Good job RIM.

India, China, UAE need to realize that once RIM caves in and allows access to the secure network, then RIM has just given the keys to RIM to the world. It will not happen, regardless of any amount of blustering, chest puffing or threats. It's like me asking for your bank account numbers, access codes and pins....then expecting you to trust me that I won't do anything with that info.

Originally Posted by joshjamie

India, China, UAE need to realize that once RIM caves in and allows access to the secure network, then RIM has just given the keys to RIM to the world. It will not happen, regardless of any amount of blustering, chest puffing or threats. It's like me asking for your bank account numbers, access codes and pins....then expecting you to trust me that I won't do anything with that info.

For sure. I think RIM played it rather well by holding off on giving India BB Messenger access till the last possible moment. It showed India that RIM is not going to budge on giving out where the line ends, the encrypted data to emails. What would end up happening if RIM gave India access is just another way for the government of India to intrude on it's citizens freedom of privacy. It's nice to see that people can use the BlackBerry network and gain that privacy, which is another reason that RIM is gaining popularity. I can't speak for all Indians, but I think they would agree to put their trust in a private company than in a Government entity.

One of my favorite quotes is by Ben Franklin...

“People willing to trade their freedom for temporary security deserve neither and will lose both.” - Benjamin Franklin