Government tells Blackberry maker RIM to install server by Aug 31

Rejecting Blackberry maker Research in Motion (RIM)’s latest offering of data access on deferred basis, the government has reiterated RIM to maintain the August 31 deadline or else face shutdown of its premium core features like messenger and enterprise mail service.

Telecom ministry officials said RIM is racing against time to meet the August 31 deadline set by the government last week to provide a solution for intercepting the Messenger services and BlackBerry Enterprise Mail or face shutdown of the services in India.

The government is firm that any proposal of RIM would be accepted only after security agencies are satisfied with the technology of interception. RIM spokesperson told media that there was nothing new to we sent on August 12 is still valid,” RIM spokesperson said on Sunday.

The August 12 statement said, “ Although RIM cannot disclose confidential regulatory discussions that take place with any government, RIM assures its customers that it genuinely tries to be as cooperative as possible with governments in the spirit of supporting legal and national security requirements, while also preserving the lawful needs of citizens and corporations.” This has brought about fresh confusion over the fate of BlackBerry operations in India.

An annoyed government had earlier dashed off letters to telecom operators deadline of August 31 to put in place monitoring capability for BlackBerry Messenger and secured Enterprise email services.

RIM had offered to provide information on a deferred basis after it faced the threat of a shutdown of the core features by August 31 if security agencies cannot gain access to heavily encrypted corporate email sent on a BlackBerry handset. RIM had told government that it could intercept its Messenger on deferred basis, where the mobile number needed for monitoring would be provided to the security agencies within 10 days. The government insisted on sharing data on real time basis.

It had also provided an option to the security agencies and the home ministry that they could hand over the details of Black- Berry phones needed to be monitored and the firm in turn will decrypt the Messenger and Enterprise mail Service(BES).