India reiterates Blackberry ban threat
The Indian government has restated its position that Blackberry (and other providers of encrypted content) must provide security agencies with access to their products if they wish to continue operating in the country.
Blackberry has already part facilitated the Indian government’s request to intercept its Messenger services but stresses that it cannot divulge specific encryption keys to corporate email services - as these are in the possession of the individual customer.
As such it looks increasingly likely that BlackBerry will be forced to pull out from the subcontinent, possibly to be followed in short order by Google and Skype which offer similarly encrypted services.
Many in oppressive regimes make use of such technology to escape detection from repressive governments but there are concerns amongst democracies that the system is being abused by criminals and terrorists.
Illustrating the scale of the technical challenge this represents the US government is said to be offering ‘billions’ for any solution which could close the loophole and allow them to eavesdrop.