Put this in the dumb-things-dumb-government-officials-do category! Apparently India’s Department of Telecommunications has rejected Tata Teleservices’ application to offer RIM’s BlackBerry on their network. DoT’s dumb excuse:
“BlackBerry service does not allow for ‘lawful interception’ mandated for all Value Added Services (VAS).” In other words, they are bringing up the national security bogeyman! Current BlackBerry service providers have been contacted by DoT as well. The question is, what will DoT do with overseas visitors who show up with their BlackBerrys?
Oh No….Blackberry Ban In India?
Summary:
Put this in the dumb-things-dumb-government-officials-do category! Apparently India’s Department of Telecommunications has rejected Tata Teleservices’ application to offer RIM’s BlackBerry on their network. DoT’s dumb excuse: “BlackBerry service does not allow for ‘lawful interception’ mandated for all Value Added Services (VAS).” In other words, they are […]
Actually Om, its the Ministry of Home Affairs (responsible for internal security) that has rejected it. The Dept of Telecom routes applications thru the MHA for security clearances … pretty Orwellian aint it?
One of the other carriers has offered blackberries for years now. Roaming was seamless too.
Government officials might have not received their share and hence Blackberry became an issue of national security :-)
Do you think the officials have rejected the proposal if Ambani’s asked for it? Never!
Is this service is banned in UK,US,France also?
@ Parveen,
My sentiments exactly ;-)
Tech section of the Indian press is notorious in presenting Indian regulators as Luddites and the blogosphere dutifully swallows it. Granted, I do not know what the facts are in this particular case. But the reporting on VoIP have been erroneous to the point claiming that it is illegal and no amount of producing the evidence to the contrary, the perception persists. This includes people who currently live and work in India.
But let me take issue with some of the “reporting”. The referenced news item quotes another published story that an application has been rejected. Their source is one of the affected parties. Of course there is no mention whether either of the news organization talked to the government officials. I am not a professional reporter, but is this acceptable? Can NYT get away with it?
The story also sarcastically suggests that terrorists will be using a different means to communicate. Let us take that and apply to the reporter’s personal life. A thief trying to rob a house can easily pick a lock. So the reporter does not lock his house or his car. Since a pickpocket can swipe the wallet without being noticed, does (s)he flaunt it in the open.
I am not suggesting that we shouldn’t criticize the government. I will be ahead of anybody else. But let us be truth to the facts.
@Ashwath
The source is not anonymous … its the MD himself of the affected party and it is unlikely he would be fibbing in public.
As for talking to government officials, only an Indian reporter would know how notoriously difficult it is to get these guys to say anything on the record … even when they do talk they always like to be quoted as highly placed sources.
And yes, the NYT would be quite comfortable carrying a story with these facts – as long as enough editors are kept in the loop as to who these sources are and their authenticity … the article quotes a report in the Indian edition of CNBC which is as reliable as it gets
As for opinion – Tech2.com is a typically tongue-in-cheek new media outfit and likes throwing in its two bits … it doesnt claim to be a medium of record!
I think this is no good reason, seems like they do not understand usability, technology: Assuming Blackberry services are stopped, how are they going to stop or intercept web access to emails, terminal client sessions, GPRS based application? they are high security threats….how can just an email become a security issue!! Somebody please ask them to hire more technical buffs!!
To bad for India, another reason why they should be further as a developed country but blind sided by their inability to open up!
This will be great for competing countries and India hinders itself to accept new standards in technology and communication.
Well, actually I am an overseas visitor, who shows up often with my berry.
And it works very well, thank you. In mumbai, I am mostly on hutch network, but can also switch to airtel.