# India Threatens to Ban BlackBerry, Google, Skype



## MetalheadGautham (Jul 2, 2010)

> The Indian government has asked Research in Motion, Google and Skype to ensure that their data is available in a readable format for security and intelligence agencies. The Department of Telecom (DoT) has offered a time period of 15 days to take appropriate steps for the same. If this does not happen, these services might be banned in India, reported Business Line. Security agencies also pointed out that they are not able to snoop into services offered by Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communications.



Techtree.com India > News > Internet > India Threatens to Ban BlackBerry, Google, Skype

Guess this means all those who want higher security need to get their own private servers


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## gagan007 (Jul 2, 2010)

This is very very bad news....I mean from a customer point of view. Using Skype/Fring I am able to make free calls to my friends abroad and in India too...


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## MetalheadGautham (Jul 2, 2010)

Read the article fully. It means government wants them to use more "visible" modes of data transfer, that's all.

The services remain, but they won't be as secure as they used to be. So it would be dumb to share sensitive data via these services.


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## gagan007 (Jul 2, 2010)

Read the article fully, specially the last line in the para below:



> An internal government note says, "DoT will call the representatives of Research In Motion (manufacturer of Blackberry devices) and Skype and ask them to ensure that the content going through the telecom service providers is in readable format. They have to ensure that this is implemented within 15 days failing which services that do not allow lawful interception on a real-time basis would be blocked/banned."



Skype has always shown its disinterest in Indian government policies in past too.


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## manishjha18 (Jul 3, 2010)

gagan007 said:


> This is very very bad news....I mean from a customer point of view. Using Skype/Fring I am able to make free calls to my friends abroad and in India too...




how do you do this... even right now under new skype promotional offer you ought to have 1 euro in your skype account for 1 month free call to us...
and india,,,thats new....


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## duh (Jul 16, 2010)

there are encryption plugins too.
any whistle blower will not use skype if my guess is right, and who are influential and vvip? they can build their own skype. so the GOI wants to sniff each and every packets we pass via the network? 
sad. privacy is your right. if you are not a whistle blower or rich? then you need your rights not to be violated. this reminds me of USA and china, where we got wiretaps everywhere, IT to telecom. use the friggin encryption damnit. else learn to setup your own voip grid. good luck.


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## yashvisent (Aug 27, 2010)

nothing is related with security all is a scam to make BB, Google and others pay under the table to govt officials.

all big level games and we are being used as dices for the same.


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## ico (Aug 27, 2010)

Idiots...


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## gagan007 (Aug 27, 2010)

yashvisent said:


> nothing is related with security all is a scam to make BB, Google and others pay under the table to govt officials.



did you know that Kasab and his "friends" communicated over their Blackberries? Do you think they just did it to make an impression on someone or to comply with security policies in their organization (pun intended)?

I agree you have a mouth and freedom to talk...but atleast check the facts before making fool out of yourself!


Now what would you think when you come to know that these service providers give access to US government officials (called as FBI) so that they can pry on any illegal activities. I do not know why cannot this be done here in India! And do not make mistake of thinking India doesn't have an intelligence network/infrastructure...these agencies do work efficiently but need more discipline and resources.


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## azzu (Aug 27, 2010)

^ +1 well said


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## NIGHTMARE (Aug 28, 2010)

Indian intelligence have rights and authority to  access all database.It for safety if  our politicians don't compromise with external threat.Compare with China see the infrastructure they developed  and update IT security system. Our intelligence is very good but due to the lack of support our politicians.They got lot evidence of 26/11 which prove pakistan is responsible for that attack.


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## paroh (Aug 31, 2010)

Now 2 month more extension for blackberry
This could be a good move. But only intercepting email, chat , telephone call is not the solution.
As black berry agree to setup there server in india.But more important is that what is inside the chat mail or voice call. As if the person encrypt the message with  some encryption. so even after intercepting the call, mail or voice the situation remain the same.

[source]*in.news.yahoo.com/248/20100831/1593/tbs-the-blackberry-storm.html[/source]



> There are currently 11 lakh Indians, the creamy layer of society, who  are nervously clutching their BlackBerrys, waiting for the outcome of  the Government's discussions with Research in Motion (RIM), the  smartphone's makers, over allowing access to services so that the  intelligence agencies can snoop on users they would like to monitor.  Voice calls made from BlackBerry phones use the regular GSM network of  local service providers and can be intercepted by intelligence agencies.
> However,  voice calls made from one BlackBerry to another still cause a problem  since they are transmitted in a scrambled format. The intelligence  agencies can intercept them but find it almost impossible to decrypt  them. They can be only decrypted at the Canadian server of RIM. The  company has already given Indian law enforcement agencies access to  voice, SMS and BlackBerry Internet Services (BIS). It has promised to  provide information about certain numbers that the Indian Government  wants monitored for reasons of national security.
> However, India  wants more. It wants a parallel BlackBerry server so that it can have  real time access to the entire network, including the highly secure and  encrypted BlackBerry Enterprise Service (BES) and the BlackBerry  Messenger Service (BMS). BlackBerry's email service through the BES is  the defining function of the phones. It offers corporate entities a  secure way of internal communication through a dedicated personalised  server.
> - 5,000 phones are being officially tapped daily by Central agencies alone
> ...


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## hac_king (Sep 2, 2010)

Yeah atleast BB users can breath in relief for next 60 days

*thetelecomnews.com/blackberry-india-gets-60-days-extension-for-monitoring-solution/


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## gagan007 (Sep 2, 2010)

thanks a ton for sharing that news piece with us paroh...it is really very informative...


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## satswid (Sep 2, 2010)

its a sad news


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