RIM and the Indian Government Return to Fisticuffs

Just when you thought the heat between Research in Motion, the creators of Blackberry, and the Indian Government was cooling off, they’re back at loggerheads within barely a week’s time.

Big Brother can’t access your data.

Negotiations will continue, but Indian officials have said that the issue remains that they do not have access to BlackBerry Messenger or BlackBerry Enterprise Service content in a readable format. “Voice, SMS and individual email communication can be intercepted and monitored by Security Agencies in readable format,” said a statement by the Press Information Bureau. “However, Security Agencies are not able to intercept & monitor the communication made through Blackberry Messenger Service and Blackberry Enterprise Service in readable format.”

RIM, however, continues to maintain its stance that it’s impossible to create automatic third-party access to Enterprise and Messenger data because the encryption keys are generated dynamically by BlackBerry devices themselves. Apparently, even RIM can’t access the data. However, the Government claimed to have manual access, reports that RIM denied.

The issue has been on the brewer ever since August, when the Indian Government threatened to ban BlackBerry services unless its demands for lawful interception were met.

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