After some shaky negotiations with RIM, India is threatening to shut down BlackBerry service at the end of the month unless their security demands are met. Saudi Arabia was on the verge of a ban, but have put a hold on it after RIM started setting up local servers, and it seems like the Indian government thinks they can exert the same pressure.. The United Arab Emirates are giving BlackBerrys a little while longer before a ban, but they sound equally serious about a ban if RIM doesn’t find a away to allow them access to communications made over BlackBerry. Though the situation sounds dire, an anonymous Indian official said “RIM has assured us they will come with some solution. It remains to be seen whether they address our security concerns.” A proposal that involved RIM sharing message metadata (rather than handing over encryption keys) was rejected.
Privacy issues be damned, governments are more concerned about national security than communications security, and as the gatekeepers to a juicy market, RIM’s priorities have to align with those governments if they want access to the juicy market within. India’s massive population is a perfect example of a market where an inexpensive BlackBerry like the Curve 8530 thrives, given RIM can meet regulatory requirements. While RIM prides itself on security and has repeatedly assured customers that their information is kept private, it’s starting to look like there could be a domino effect where BlackBerry message security is put second to government snooping in Lebanon, Indonisia, Tunisia and Algeria.
If governments are throwing a fit over BlackBerry in particular, I can’t help but wonder how unsecure other smartphone platforms are that the security agencies never had these issues before.
[via Reuters]