Government wants access to encrypted BlackBerry communications
India may temporarily shut down BlackBerry service in the country if security concerns are not addressed in a meeting on Thursday. India is the latest country that wants access to encrypted Blackberry communications, which have been linked to militant activity, including the Mumbai attacks in 2008 that killed 166 people. The government will meet with telecom operators on Thursday, but it is unclear whether RIM officials will take part in the meeting. A senior Indian government official told Reuters if RIM does not agree to offer access to data, mobile phone operators could be asked to shut down RIM’s Enterprise Email and Messenger services temporarily as a last resort. If enforced, an estimated one million users in India would only be able to use these devices for calls, text messages and the Internet. The responsibility to meet Indian security requirements rests with mobile phone operators in India rather than RIM.