The government will begin lawful interception of
BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) services from August 1 putting an end to the prolonged dispute with Canadian smartphone maker. The interception will allow law enforcement agencies to track emails, attachments, BBM chats and Web browsing history from BlackBerry devices in the country.
BlackBerry Enterprise Server has been left out of the interception solution, which means corporate e-mails will not be under scrutiny. A top official with the department of telecommunications (DoT) said that the government has acquired the interception facility developed and installed by BlackBerry in Mum-bai in April 2012. BlackBerry had set up the server to let law enforcement agencies access data on BBM and BlackBerry Internet services.
There are seven private telecom companies besides public sector giants Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTLN) that provide BlackBerry services. While the pri-vate companies have provided access to lawful interception of BBM Services, BSNL and MTNL are still negotiating for setting up interception machines.
DoT may rope in a Israeli cyber firm for providing solutions to inter-cepting encryption services avail-able on smartphones.
According to a report on engage-ments of telecom minister Kapil Sibal's visit to Tel Aviv last month, discussions were held with Verint Systems, a firm which provides exclusive solutions for lawful inter-ception in cyber space.
Official sources said that the com-pany may also be engaged for ensuring a solution for location-based servers (LBS), which give real-time position of caller. The gov-ernment has already asked all tele-com service providers here to ensure LBS and provide access to security agencies, they said.
Courtesy: Mail Today
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