Information Madness

India’s home ministry revived its threat to shut down BlackBerry services because Research in Motion Ltd (RIM) was not providing it with information about users, raising the prospect of widespread disruptions to corporate email communications. The Ministry of Home Affairs has told the service provider that it will have to shut shop in India unless it comes up with a way to enable security agencies to monitor data transfers on its system.

The latest ultimatum for Blackberry maker Research In Motion (RIM) comes a day after the Canadian company agreed to hand over user codes that would let Saudi authorities monitor its BlackBerry Messenger, as it seeks to stop the kingdom from silencing the service.

Authorities fear that the popular BlackBerry email and messaging services could be misused by militants as security agencies cannot access the messages sent through these services.

India's security establishment took a hardline view on RIM's stance that it does not possess a master key to intercept data traffic on BlackBerry, insisting it needs access to encrypted messages in a readable format.

If enforced, an estimated one million users in India would only be able to use these devices for calls, text messages and the Internet.

Indian officials say RIM has proposed helping India track emails, without sharing encryption details, which security officials say is not enough.