RIM Denies Reports Of Enabling Data Access For Indian Govt

RIM has issued a statement clarifying that any suggestion that it is enabling, or planning to enable in any time frame, access to data transmitted through BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) is both false and technologically infeasible. The company also clarifies that any suggestion that it is facing a January 31 deadline in India is incorrect and contradicts prior clarifying comments from the Government of India itself.

In the statement RIM said that its dealings with the Government of India remain positive and on track. “This has been confirmed by senior Government officials on several occasions. RIM continues to enjoy strong growth of BlackBerry products and services in India with a large and loyal customer base; and we remain committed to serving those customers and growing our business.”

Since August 2010, RIM has repeatedly stated its framework of principles for providing carriers with the capabilities necessary to address lawful access requirements in India and those principles have not changed. They are:

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1. The carriers’ capabilities be limited to the strict context of lawful access and national security requirements as governed by the country’s judicial oversight and rules of law.

2. The carriers’ capabilities must be technology and vendor neutral, allowing no greater access to BlackBerry consumer services than the carriers and regulators already impose on RIM’s competitors and other similar communications technology companies.

3. No changes to the security architecture for BlackBerry Enterprise Server customers since, contrary to any rumours, the security architecture is the same around the world and RIM truly has no ability to provide its customers’ encryption keys. Also driving RIM’s position is the fact that strong encryption is a fundamental commercial requirement for any country to attract and maintain international business anyway and similarly strong encryption is currently used pervasively in traditional VPNs on both wired and wireless networks in order to protect corporate and government communications.

4. RIM maintains a consistent global standard for lawful access requirements that does not include special deals for specific countries.