Has RIM ceded to demand for encryption keys? Co denies

A war of words has likely broken out between BlackBerry maker Research in Motion and the Indian government.

The government says it has managed to force the company to cede to its demand of getting access to its super secure encrypted messages and emails, but the company has denied this.

An Economic Times report said the Canadian company has roped in Verint, a company that can intercept all messages and emails between BlackBerry phones and render them readable.

This should satisfy the government, which has been demanding that RIM provide security agencies an automatic solution to make all communications on BB accessible to them, the report said.

RIM was threatened with an ouster from the country if it did not allow monitoring of its secure emails and messenger services.

The company, once a leader in smart phones, is in doldrums as it is loosing its market share to its rivals. India is one of few growing markets for the company.

Cashing in on its difficult times, the Indian government has managed to force the company hand over the encryption keys for its corporate emails and popular messenger services, the ET report said.

An RIM official has been quoted as saying that the company has offered a “lawful access solution” that will help all telecom service providers in India to comply with the laws.

He, however, denied this would be a compromise on its security features and said the encrypted BlackBerry enterprise communications or corporate emails will be accessible only to the owners of these services.

“The fact is that BlackBerry enterprise communications in India remain secure and encrypted. No change has been made or ever can be made in India or anywhere,” David Paterson, RIM’s head of government relations, has been quoted as saying in a Reuters report .

The ET report, however, claims to have reviewed a correspondence between the company and the government, which that the solution demonstrated by RIM can intercept all BlackBerry services.

The report also has a confirmation from a telecom department official that corporate emails would form part of the services that the government will be able to monitor.

The BB case is significant as it brings to the fore the issue of the state’s surveillance power on individual’s lives.

But India is unlikely to see this issue figuring in the popular narrative on the subject, as the government’s move is largely seen as helping it ward off terrorist designs on the country.