BlackBerry to provide India access to messenger services

NEW DELHI - Research in Motion (RIM), the Canadian company that makes BlackBerry mobile devices, Saturday said it is working to provide the Indian government lawful access to BlackBerry Messenger Services (BBM).

“RIM confirms that it is fully cooperating with the government of India and is enabling carriers in India to be able to provide the same degree of lawful access to consumer data services, including BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), that occurs with respect to other consumer products and services offered by other companies, including RIMs competitors,” the company said in a statement.

Minister of State for Communication Sachin Pilot Friday said that the security agencies are unable to intercept and monitor the communication made through BlackBerry Messenger Service and enterprise services in readable format. The government is engaged with RIM to find out a solution for the interception and monitoring of messenger chat and enterprise email using BlackBerry phone.

“Voice, SMS and individual email communication can be intercepted and monitored by security agencies in readable format. However, security agencies are not able to intercept and monitor the communication made through BlackBerry messenger and enterprise services in readable format,” Pilot said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

Earlier, the negotiations between the government and RIM were deadlocked on the issue as RIM said it does not have a master key in the system that would allow it or any third party to gain access to encrypted corporate information.

The government has given BlackBerry time till January 2011 to create lawful interception facilities with all operators offering the service.