[scorpiodsu]

India appears ready to ban BlackBerry | BGR

Apparently, India's government has once again voiced it's stance regarding RIM and any other company providing officials with access to encrypted data. What should RIM and any other company do? I mean of course we all know security is good but is it the government's right to be able to access this information? In this day and age with terrorism now more than ever is it in the best interest for government to be able to access certain info? And it's not just terrorism but other activities that negatively affect a county and it's people.

What do you guys think?

[kyroguy]

Those who sacrifice freedom for security will soon have neither.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[mlb13]

It's all about control over the people. I wish there were more companies like RIM that would just say no to these demands.

[iN8ter]

If terrorists were conspiring to drive a bus into your house on their blackberries, wouldn't you feel safe if the government could find out and stop them given there was probably cause and a legit legal reason to examine those BBM conversations/BIS emails?

[Sirhill]

If terrorists were conspiring to drive a bus into your house on their blackberries, wouldn't you feel safe if the government could find out and stop them given there was probably cause and a legit legal reason to examine those BBM conversations/BIS emails?

Why **** yes! But at the same time there has to be some privacy to your conversations, right? I mean do you want the government knowing everything you do and say if you are a good guy. The point of the matter is that no matter how you look at it if you want them to be able to spy on the bad guys they are also going to spy on the good guys as well. And when they do this than your rights have been taken away from you. So now as yourself the question:Is it far to all bad or good, to allow the gov have access to this info?

[kyroguy]

I can defend my self. stay out of my data Obama!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[JRSCCivic98]

If terrorists were conspiring to drive a bus into your house on their blackberries, wouldn't you feel safe if the government could find out and stop them given there was probably cause and a legit legal reason to examine those BBM conversations/BIS emails?

I'll tell you what would work better. Lining up all terrorists in public square and shooting them. No trial, no nothing. Guaranteed, after a few months of that happening all over the world, terroism wouldn't look like a good thing to take up. This would work really well with sadistic criminal murderers as well as save tax payers a bunch of money.

[dcsr23]

I'll tell you what would work better. Lining up all terrorists in public square and shooting them. No trial, no nothing. Guaranteed, after a few months of that happening all over the world, terroism wouldn't look like a good thing to take up. This would work really well with sadistic criminal murderers as well as save tax payers a bunch of money.

If you could ever catch them before they blew themselves up.

[scorpiodsu]

Why **** yes! But at the same time there has to be some privacy to your conversations, right? I mean do you want the government knowing everything you do and say if you are a good guy. The point of the matter is that no matter how you look at it if you want them to be able to spy on the bad guys they are also going to spy on the good guys as well. And when they do this than your rights have been taken away from you. So now as yourself the question:Is it far to all bad or good, to allow the gov have access to this info?

Agreed. But that's the sacrifice of safety. In order to be protected from certain things, you have to give up certain security. I wish we could have it both ways but in today's world you can't. In our country the government can get any information on each one of us and I'm fine with that as long as it's being used for the right reasons.

[scorpiodsu]

If terrorists were conspiring to drive a bus into your house on their blackberries, wouldn't you feel safe if the government could find out and stop them given there was probably cause and a legit legal reason to examine those BBM conversations/BIS emails?

Exactly. How many possible terrorist attacks has the US been able to stop since 911 because they were able to access emails and listen to conversations and stuff. Blackberries are such secure devices that it makes it an ideal device for those that are planning to do terrible things to use for communication. I think the officials should been able to have certain access BUT not be able to abuse that access. Otherwise, the less they know, the more at risk you are. I'm not doing anything the government can come after me for so I definitely wouldn't mind them occasionally monitoring things IF they are doing it for my safety.

[lnichols]

In our country the government can get any information on each one of us and I'm fine with that as long as it's being used for the right reasons.

But who determines what the right reasons are, and who makes sure that they aren't being used/abused for other purposes?

But as for the topic at hand, I hope that this will maybe discourage companies from setting up shop there. I love it when I get **** poor support from "Bob" in Mumbai!

[scorpiodsu]

But who determines what the right reasons are, and who makes sure that they aren't being used/abused for other purposes?

Obviously, that's the dilemma. That's why I thank God I live in this country because the corruption is nothing like other countries. Sure there are always officials who don't have the people's best interest at heart but I would have to trust that they do. I think it's the lesser of 2 evils. I wish we could have both but in today's world, we can't so I don't mind giving up a little privacy (since I have nothing to hide and they know everything about me anyway) for safety. And good thing is, if we don't feel someone has our interest in mind, we can vote them out and pick someone we think does, at least in theory LOL. Not perfect but I don't think it's a better way for our intelligence agency to protect it's people. And you can tell when they are using the information for the right reasons every time they arrest a potential threat.

[scorpiodsu]

But remember, it's not just RIM. It's any company so that includes iOS and Android platforms and the others. The difference is that RIM is saying they have no way of allowing that type of access. While the other companies can make it available if they like and want to keep doing business over there. India has a lot of people and tech is booming over there so it's a dilemma but then again, you have to adhere to a country's laws to do business, right?

[Reed McLay]

Data security: Leaks force RIM to break talks with government

NEW DELHI: Canada-based Research in Motion , the maker of BlackBerry smartphones, has temporarily suspended its dialogue with the government on security issues saying leakage of sensitive discussions between the company and the Indian authorities had undermined the confidence needed for such talks.

Endorsing RIM’s stance, Canada has complained to Home Secretary GK Pillai that confidential information submitted by the smartphone company was being leaked to the media, and a top executive from the cellphone company would visit New Delhi and assess the situation (on the leaks) before talks resume.

...
The communication said these ‘leaks’, in addition to being ‘unhelpful’, could not “compare to the unprecedented damage caused by leaking of confidential documents”, and its impact was “undermining the confidence necessary for sensitive negotiations”.

...

It is clear, the government of India is incapable of managing their own confidential business. The governments own information service is a leaky as a sieve.

India is dependent of trade with Western economies:

Exports: $201 billion (2010 est.)
Imports: $327 billion (2010 est.)
...

The multinational corporations doing business with India can not operate in a climate where all of their internal communications are being monitored by their trading partners.

Shutting down access to BES, HTTPS, VPNs, Google and Skype and using a local carrier, that feeds confidential communications the government, is untenable. The withdrawal of those corporations would cause India's economy to experience extreme duress, perhaps to the extent of total collapse.

That is not going to happen, as long as China is there to pick up the pieces.

[Pete6]

I'll tell you what would work better. Lining up all terrorists in public square and shooting them. No trial, no nothing. Guaranteed, after a few months of that happening all over the world, terroism wouldn't look like a good thing to take up. This would work really well with sadistic criminal murderers as well as save tax payers a bunch of money.

Been tried. Does not work. All you do is make martyrs.

[sam_b77]

I don't think BB will be Banned by India.
First of all most of our politicians are using BBM to talk about their shady deals and bribes. They all know BBM is secure. I know cos my close buddy is a politician and he bought two BB's for this reason only. Doesn't make voice calls on them, just uses BBM to conduct "business"
Secondly, even if our laughable security agencies were given access, they wouldn't even be able to locate the PIN nos of the supposed terrorists. **** even the NSA with all their listening abilities and supercomputers working to isolate suspect conversations couldn't pick up the correct keywords in time to issue a credible and timely warning. Sorry to state but our intelligence agencies don't even have a quarter of NSA's ability.
Thirdly, they want access to this data to snoop on corporates and then take bribes and sell to the highest bidder. That's why RIM should dig in their heels and tell the Indian govt to f**k off.
And lastly, all this is because the right guy in the govt. was not paid off, and the son of a bi**h is creating a nuisance so that he gets paid by RIM. Once that happens all this will die a quiet death. Sadly that's how our country functions.
No big deal, we see this everyday.
Plus BB is the biggest selling smartphone here. People don't take iphones for free.
I don't know anyone with an Iphone. Everyone has the BB and none of them have BES, all BIS customers. Even teenagers buy BB cos BBM is free, saves them cost on texting.
With this huge base which is growing at record levels, this is just non sense.

[Reed McLay]

I don't think BB will be Banned by India.
First of all most of our politicians are using BBM to talk about their shady deals and bribes. They all know BBM is secure. I know cos my close buddy is a politician and he bought two BB's for this reason only. Doesn't make voice calls on them, just uses BBM to conduct "business"
Secondly, even if our laughable security agencies were given access, they wouldn't even be able to locate the PIN nos of the supposed terrorists. **** even the NSA with all their listening abilities and supercomputers working to isolate suspect conversations couldn't pick up the correct keywords in time to issue a credible and timely warning. Sorry to state but our intelligence agencies don't even have a quarter of NSA's ability.
Thirdly, they want access to this data to snoop on corporates and then take bribes and sell to the highest bidder. That's why RIM should dig in their heels and tell the Indian govt to f**k off.
And lastly, all this is because the right guy in the govt. was not paid off, and the son of a bi**h is creating a nuisance so that he gets paid by RIM. Once that happens all this will die a quiet death. Sadly that's how our country functions.
No big deal, we see this everyday.
Plus BB is the biggest selling smartphone here. People don't take iphones for free.
I don't know anyone with an Iphone. Everyone has the BB and none of them have BES, all BIS customers. Even teenagers buy BB cos BBM is free, saves them cost on texting.
With this huge base which is growing at record levels, this is just non sense.

Thank you for contributing to this conversation, you have brought us some very interesting insights.

India constitutional right to monitor communications was drafted in late 40's, when telegraph was King and high tech meant 110 baud teletype. Telephones used local exchanges where operators shuffled patch cables.

The World has changed, a lot. India's desire to monitor all communications has not.

India educates World Class professionals, including many brilliant Computer Science graduates. One would think, the Home Ministers advisers would have told him, AES can't be touched... by anybody.