Now govt can read BlackBerry emails, BBM messages: report

It seems the government of India and BlackBerry have finalised the details for interception of emails, email attachments and messages from BlackBerry Messaging (BBM). According to a report in the Economic Times , the enforcement agencies will soon be able to track e-mail as well as e-mail attachments on a real time basis over BlackBerry devices, check whether chats sent over the popular BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) have been ‘delivered’ or ‘read’, and intercept web-browsing facilities on these devices. The report was based on an internal document of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). However BlackBerry has clarified that the government still does not have access to the company’s corporate email-service (BlackBerry Enterprise Service) and only knows the identity of which companies are using the BB service. [caption id=“attachment_943965” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A BlackBerry device is seen in this file photo. Getty Images[/caption] BlackBerry had set up a server in Mumbai in February 2012 to allow interception of messages and email following intense pressure from the government of India. DoT expects telecom operators like Airtel, Vodafone, RCom, Tata and the government-run BSNL and MTNL which offer BlackBerry services to get the interception facilities up and running soon.