The Indian government and Research in Motion (NSDQ: RIMM) (RIM) have met again to discuss the governments security concerns over the government not being able to track data communications over the BlackBerry email services, reports Reuters. This meeting comes with the backdrop of RIM telling customers that it’s committed to keeping the mail communications secure – saying there’s no “Master Key” and no back-door entry which would allow RIM or any third party to gain access to emails: “a key system whereby the customer creates their own key and only the customer ever possesses a copy of their encryption key”. This, despite the telecom minister saying that RIM has assured the Indian government of a solution in two months.
Who wouldn’t want to be a fly-on-the-wall in one of these meetings; to me it seems that this has now become a media battle. As is symptomatic of such situations, neither side can be seen as backing off or cowing down, particularly the Indian government. Only international (and maybe national) outrage over privacy issues would force it to backtrack, but the BlackBerry isn’t a mass device. At the same time, the government is unlikely to take risk shutting down BlackBerry services. The only possible solution is for RIM to have a point person who shares details with the Indian government, on request. Just like Google’s (NSDQ: GOOG) deal in India with the police, for giving user information on request. More on that here.
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