Indian Government Threatens to Ban Gmail, Skype and BlackBerry
Bored with China and Pakistan banning web services left and right? Here is something new. Possibly feeling a bit left out, the Indian government has decided to join in on all the fun.
Apparently, the Indian security agencies are struggling to monitor the content being shared over Gmail, Skype and Blackberries due to their highly encrypted nature. According to The Hindu, a reputed daily newspaper in India, “Department of Telecom (DoT) will ask these companies to either ensure that data going through their networks be made available to security agencies in a readable format or face a ban from offering services in India.”
Indian security agencies are concerned that services like Skype are being used by terrorists to bypass monitoring mechanisms put in place for telephone calls. Skype and RIM (the Canadian manufacturer of BlackBerry handsets) will be given 15 days to respond, failing which services that do not allow lawful interception on a real-time basis would be banned. Google will also be asked to use encryption standards that can be monitored by the Government. However, the Government won’t impose any deadline on the search engine giant.
This is not the first time RIM has run into trouble with the Indian government. Back in 2008, there was a similar standoff. However, at that time, the Indian Government had claimed that all differences have been resolved.
Formal notices are expected to be served to all affected parties in the first week of July. While, a Google spokesperson declined to comment, Skype has come out and termed any potential ban as “a big step backwards”.
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Author: Pallab De
Pallab De is a blogger from India who has a soft spot for anything techie. He loves trying out new software and spends most of his day breaking and fixing his PC. Pallab loves participating in the social web; he has been active in technology forums since he was a teenager and is an active user of both twitter (@indyan) and facebook .Pallab De has written 913 articles for us.
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The Indian government should realize that the decision to ban Google service can be a setback to a huge number of web based businesses in India.
I'm sure both companies will hate to lose out on market share from such a vast and tech savvy country.
I guess this is right thing todo. we already have faced terrorist attack on mumbai. that time TERRORIST COUNTRY has used google earth next may be skype / gtalk.
I believe google should cooperate else google dependents (ME) will face problem finding alternative.
Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither
Shameful to see a Govt. that is headed by such an intelligent group of people succumb to the Chinese way out….blanket ban on anything that is remotely uncomfortable… we are a nation of tech savvy people who are creating stuff the world is using, surely there are ways to resolve this in a civilised manner….Step1 get the babus out of national security and get some tech savvy dudes in there……step up India and take charge otherwise they will drive you back to the bullock cart.