BlackBerry, Skype, Gmail and now 3G come under the scanner of Indian Government

[KanagaDeepan 1,084]

Blackberry may be blacked out effective 1st April 2011

New Delhi: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram demanded that Research in Motion (RIM) proprietors of Blackberry sign with India a sovereign service contract similar to the one that they have with China and Saudi Arabia, if they wanted to continue services in the country.

Blackberry which has been red-flagged as a huge security concern since the intelligence agencies are unable to intercept their messages flatly refused.

Chidambaram, who in no mood to brook this, has now recommended to the Telecom Ministry that all Blackberry services be stopped effective March 31.

Authoritative sources told Zee News that the Canadian based company had clearly worked out a deal with China and Saudi-Arabia, but was not playing ball with India.

source :: http://biz.zeenews.com/news/news_content.aspx?newscatid=4&newsid=21912

The highlighted aspect is too discriminatory to tolerate.

Let RIM be taught in a hard way that India is not so weak....

Actually BB services should be banned even if they come with the req solution later, for cheating the govt and wasting their time...

[Karthik R 246]

Nokia Pushmail, Powermail services under scanner

The home ministry has asked the telecom department to bar mobile phone companies from launching handset major Nokia's popular messaging services - pushmail and powermail - in India until suitable legal monitoring systems are in place.

Following security concerns, the home ministry had communicated this to the telecom ministry and ET reviewed a copy of this communications.

Messaging services from the Nokia stable, which typically involve push email for companies and consumers, enables mobile users with compatible Nokia cellphones to manage multiple email accounts from widely used email services like Yahoo!, Gmail, Rediff to Sify.

Nokia India's spokesperson said the company had not received the mentioned notice and would therefore not be able to comment.

"Our push email services are operator-agnostic and can be enjoyed by consumers across operator networks on a host of Nokia devices. We have been working proactively with government authorities, including setting up servers in India. It is our endeavor at Nokia to comply fully with legal requirements wherever we operate. In offering our services in India, we have adhered to the rules and regulations as required by the Indian government," the company said in an email response.

Nokia clocks over one lakh activations a month for its messaging email service in India making it amongst the top five markets globally. Nearly 50% of Nokia's E Series business phones sold in the country get activated for e-mails.

These developments come at a time when the home ministry has asked the telecom and IT departments to overhaul existing legal frameworks to broaden the meaning of telecom/internet services.

The telecom department and the IT ministry have been asked by the home ministry to ring in the necessary changes in the Indian Telegraph Act of 1885, the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2007, the Rules under Telegraph & IT Acts to ensure operator compliance with the demands of the security agencies.

Once the necessary amendments come, it will be mandatory for telecom service providers to have the systems in place to deliver authorised intercepts based on telephone numbers, device identity, email IDs, IP addresses or keywords to the national security agencies on real-time basis.

"The laws will be suitably amended to ensure such intercept related information is legible, audible and viewable by the LEAs real-time as the situation demands," said an Intelligence Bureau note, reviewed by ET.

Via : ET

[KanagaDeepan 1,084]

NOKIA already said it is ready to obey any scanning and intercepting laws, mainly to get some benefit from the drama of BB... Let us wait and see...

[ami1 237]

I heard that DOT has told Home Ministry that it should have its own decryption infrastructure, like agencies do in other countries, since its not feasible for service providers or manufacturers to provide decryption as end users may be using their own encryption methods.

[chitshar 25]

And how will our government decrypt AES-256 bit or higher encryption?

[raccoon 53]

We have been working proactively with government authorities, including setting up servers in India. It is our endeavor at Nokia to comply fully with legal requirements wherever we operate. In offering our services in India, we have adhered to the rules and regulations as required by the Indian government," the company said in an email response.

Given in so readily? Pooh!!!!!! No spine! Shame Nokia!

[kshah 452]

True to give in so easily against spineless government is even more spineless

[Karthik R 246]

Already Nokia is being pushed on to the back foot by stiff competition and they cannot afford getting into a fight with the policy makers.

[ami1 237]

And how will our government decrypt AES-256 bit or higher encryption?

That's why they have been trying to push the responsibility to Telcos to offer decrypted real time tapping.

But even if RIM nokia Skype Google etc give the decryption keys to govt whenever required, people will start using their own encryption programs - and specially the bad people - which telcos or manufacturers will not be able to decrypt.

So unless the govt sets up huge GPU clusters decryption facilities like NSA there is no solution to this problem.

Plus such Govt facilities in India may or may not be actually efficient. So its easier to keep harping on either banning services or asking others to provide 'understandable' interception. It doesn't matter that the baddies have their own highly advanced encryption suites and will not be affected by all this security theatre.

Just a waste of time and money. Its like having licenses for guns. It never stops or affects criminals - only law abiding citizens who wouldn't be doing illegal things anyway.

[raccoon 53]

Exactly. Most likely they already know this and are just using it as a pretext to pry into everybody's lives for reasons that are more than obvious. Plus it looks good in the eyes of well meaning simpletons who still believe that the govt. is just doing it in their own interest, for security and blah, blah...

What is happening is that a HUGE amount of tax payer's money is going to spent on equipment, manpower, etc., to spy on the tax payer himself and will be used for all the wrong reasons by the govt. or possibly its employees...

[rajanmehta 4,056]

DoT bans Nokia's pushmail; telcos to put monitoring system

14 Apr, 2011, 07.35PM Economic Times

NEW DELHI: In a set back to mobile handset manufacturer Nokia, the government has asked telecom service providers to bar company's proposed -- pushmail or powermail -- service till it put in place a legal monitoring system.

"In view of the Intelligence Bureau's report, Department of Telecomunications is requested to advice the Telecom Service Providers not to launch Nokia's proposed pushmail/powermail service without putting in place monitoring facilities to the satisfaction of the LEAs," Ministry of Home Affairs said in a communication to Department of Telecom.

Messaging services from Nokia involve push email for companies and consumers and enables mobile users with compatible Nokia cellphones to manage multiple email accounts from widely used email services like Yahoo!, Gmail, Rediff to Sify.

The communique came at a time when Blackberry services are under the government's wrath due to the security related issue for not providing a solution to intercept its Enterprise mail services.

The government had asked BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion (RIM) to come out with a satisfactory solution to intercept its Enterprise mail services by March 31, which has been already expired.

Nearly 50 per cent of Nokia's E Series business phones sold in the country get activated for e-mails.

These developments came at a time when the home ministry has asked the telecom and IT departments to overhaul existing legal frameworks to broaden the meaning of telecom/internet services.

The telecom department and the IT ministry have been asked by the home ministry to ring in the necessary changes in the Indian Telegraph Act of 1885, the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2007, the Rules under Telegraph & IT Acts to ensure operator compliance with the demands of the security agencies.

Once the necessary amendments come, it will be mandatory for telecom service providers to have the systems in place to deliver authorised intercepts based on telephone numbers, device identity, email IDs, IP addresses or keywords to the national security agencies on real-time basis.

[Karthik R 246]

While everyone expected Blackberry to be the first one to go down, it is surprising to see the Aam aadmi's favorite handset manufacturer make it to the top of the hit list. Given the present scenario, there is no reason to believe Nokia would put up a tough fight.

What makes the decision all the more important is while RIM got a dozen warnings and extended deadlines, its service was at no point of time disrupted. So Nokia might get a breather if they publicly announce a timeline for setting up a monitoring system.

[digitalnirvana 646]

Very heavy handed treatment towards Nokia when BB has been getting away scot free so far. I doubt the government is putting it's efforts behind this issue to actually solve it. As of now it just looks like a sham wherein it screws someone, that someone says give me time to fix, and the government then screws someone else.

[rajanmehta 4,056]

What makes one seething in anger is that this government have not been able to inflict any worthwhile damage to Pakistan... The fountain head from which all terrorism has come to India in last few years... Even in light of Rana"s confession in US Court that it was ISI behind the Mumbai Terror Attacks...

Now it wants to resume cricket ties with Pakistan and wants to send Dhoni's team there...

When asked about this double standards.. External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna sheepishly said... Let Terrorism be there... We will work in the spirit of Sharm-AL-Sheikh Declaration... We want to normalise relations with Pakistan

So it is now hellbent on punishing the Victims instead of perpetrator in the name of this National Security Drama... It is impotent to do anything to the root cause and doing this worthless theatrics..

There is a folk proverb in Gujarati "નબળો માટી બૈરી પર શૂરો" Translated A Weak Man Is Powerful On His Helpless Wife. Here this government is the weak man & we citizens....

[digitalnirvana 646]

RIM CEO gets angry when asked about BlackBerry problems in India and the Middle East

RIM’s recent experiences in India and the Middle East have been long and tortuous, with the company slowly being forced to turn over control of its much-used and famously-secure BlackBerry services in the respective regions for reasons of national security. An agreement has yet to be reached on that front, and in the meanwhile, Research In Motion has had to contend with the rising market share of Android and iOS smartphones.

While RIM’s co-CEO Mike Lazardis is not best known for his oratory skills, a recent BBC interview put in to light the stress the company is undergoing. When asked about the “problems [RIM] has had in terms of security, and the various arguments” with governments in India and the Middle East, Lazardis called the question unfair, vehemently defending the security of platform, and calling an end to the interview due to the sensitive nature of the issues being discussed:

“That’s just not fair. Because first of all, it’s nuts. We have no security problems... we’ve just been singled out, because we’re so successful around the world. It’s an iconic product, used by businesses, it’s used by leaders, it’s used by celebrities, it’s used by consumers, it’s used by teenagers, we were just singled out.”

“Alright, so it’s over, [the] interview’s over. Please, you can’t use that word, it’s just not fair… We’ve dealt with this, this is a national security issue, turn that off…”

Surprisingly and a bit irresponsibly, this part of the interview was made available by the BBC, allowing us to satisfy our morbid curiosity in the face of a struggling platform.

RIM has quite a few of its eggs riding the PlayBook basket, a QNX-based underdog tablet scheduled to launch in the U.S. and Canada on April 19th.

You can see the relevant portion of the interview below:

http://www.youtube.com/embed/n987fbiJJb4

Source: thinkdigit.com

[KanagaDeepan 1,084]

DoT again started its BAN games... But it is that DoT, which has to be banned...

[kesav 127]

It's just ridiculous to drag this issue so long for to increase the revenue for print and electronic media.

Ask all the telecom operators to ban everything which can't be decrypted real-time in their n/w by deadline say 1st June 2011.

End of the story....why so much unnecessary drama here.....

As malicious RIM has been scandalizing it as whole-industry issue, let them have guts to lead a consortium consisting of all data players of the world and form an encryption platform in a way that it can only be decrypted real-time by security agencies but no one else including them.

I can bet they'll never ever do it since after all they're working for Canadian agencies.

Edited May 30, 2011 by kesav

[KanagaDeepan 1,084]

DoT is ready to play drama with HIGH-COST RIM's push mail service for more than a year, but can ban Nokia's FREE service at the blink of an eye...

May be DoT is getting suitcases with every discussion with RIM and RIM is just negotiating the TOTAL bribe AMOUNT with DoT for these much days.. And since NOKIA's service is FREE, DoT is not expecting to get the huge bribe amount to fill their GIGANTIC BELLY and hence the IMMEDIATE BAN...

Go Dot go and duck yourself...

[raccoon 53]

Today's Indian Express carried this article from the NYT. The IE however does not carry the full article which is posted below from the NYT site.

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, since it has nothing to do with BB or Skype, directly, but is related to the issue of govt. snooping, privacy, etc. Mods. may please move it to the appropriate thread, if desirable.

How to Fix (0r Kill) Web Data About You

By RIVA RICHMOND

Published: April 13, 2011

As more of our social lives, shopping sprees and dating misadventures take place online, we leave behind, purposely or not, a growing supply of personal information.e

Marketers, employers, suitors and even thieves and stalkers are piecing together mosaics of who we are. Even when it is accurate, it may not present a pretty picture.

For a glimpse of your mosaic, type your name into Spokeo.com. Prepare to see estimates of your age, home value, marital status, phone number and your home address, even a photo of your front door. Spokeo, one of several services like this online, will encourage you to pay $15 or more, for a full report with details on income, hobbies and online social networks.

Snoops who take the time to troll further online may also find in blog posts or Facebookcomments evidence of your political views, health challenges, office tribulations and party indiscretions, any of which could hurt your chances of admission to school, getting or keeping a job or landing a date. Many privacy experts worry that companies will use this data against users, perhaps to deny insurance coverage or assign a higher interest rate on a loan.

The online aggregation of personal data is setting the stage for "a WikiLeaks for your life," said Michael Fertik, the chief executive of Reputation.com, previously known as ReputationDefender, a company that charges to manage people's online information and images. "The treasure trove of personal data about each of us is growing to unanticipated levels, and the leak of huge portions of those data can be personally devastating," he said.

If you want to try to manage privacy, the obvious first place to start is with the search engines Google, Bing and Yahoo, exactly where other people will most likely go to check you out. Run keyword searches of your name, address, phone numbers and other identifying data and see what turns up. Don't stop after the first few pages of search results. While they will be the most influential, the embarrassing or forgotten tidbits can show up on page six and beyond, warns Andy Beal, co-author of "Radically Transparent," a book about monitoring and managing online reputations, and a consultant who says he has helped people get information removed from the Web.

Also look for online accounts you opened but don't use anymore, especially on social networks or dating sites where you would have provided extensive personal information. Not only can people dig up details, as the Mashable blog recently did when it posted what appeared to be information about the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's online dating life, but the site you entrusted data to could change its privacy practices or be acquired by a company with different policies.

If you're daunted by this research job, there are companies willing to do the work for you. The privacy software start-up Abine charges $99 a year for quarterly reports detailing the information available about you online.

Abine found that all six major people databases — 123people.com, MyLife.com, Spokeo, US Search, WhitePages and PeopleFinder.com — have dossiers on me. All have my home address, which doesn't thrill me, and three list some of my relatives. Abine also dug up a funny privacy rant I posted on a technical help forum a few years ago. Otherwise, there wasn't much of interest. Apparently, I have displayed excellent control of my online image and am very well liked, said Sarah Paradisi, the Abine employee who compiled my report. Nice to know.

The harder part is masking the information. It's often possible to remove information yourself, though it will probably be a time consuming ordeal.

First, delete anything too valuable on social networks like Facebook. A full birth date or home address can be used to steal your identity. Personal details can be cloaked using privacy settings that make them available only to friends. Also remove or deactivate social networking accounts you no longer use.

If someone else posted information you want removed, you'll have to reach out to that person. A friend on Facebook may agree to delete an unflattering photo of you. But getting an online publisher or a data broker — a company that buys data from other companies and then sells it to companies that collect it — to remove content, especially if it's truthful and legal, can be tricky. Mr. Beal says asking nicely and explaining why often works.

Many data brokers will let you opt out of their databases, though you will have to contact each one individually. "You may have to wait as long as 30 days for information to come down. And they don't guarantee it will come down forever," warns Amber N. Yoo, a spokeswoman for the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, which has a list of 140 brokers. "It's a messy and complicated problem."

Information that is taken down should drop out of the search engines within a few weeks. If it doesn't, submit a request for it to be removed. Google provides instructions, but without action from the site owner, Google rarely removes content that's not illegal.

All this can be a headache. A friend who faced a stalker last summer spent two weeks trying to get her home address removed from four Web sites and search engines. The sites cooperated, but, she said, "there is still a ghost presence on Google," even though she sent it multiple removal requests. Google said its search engine reflected content that was available on the Web.

Indeed, it appears her address was not entirely purged from one of the sites. She finally gave up after finding her entire address history on a people search site that was charging $2 to see it. It was clear "this whole effort on my part was futile," she said. Many sites, including Google and news outlets, are in the information business and may be unwilling to remove it, especially if it's truthful. If they won't act, experts suggest creating more good content about yourself, like starting a LinkedIn profile and a personal blog, to push down the bad to the third or fourth search results screen where few people bother to look. If the content is defamatory — both false and damaging — or otherwise illegal, Mr. Beal recommends hiring a lawyer.

Pros can help consumers cope. The best known is Reputation.com, which charges $99 a year for its MyPrivacy service to identify, remove and keep your information off the Web and out of commercial databases. It also offers technology to stop tracking and data collection using cookies, which can help prevent more data from getting out.

Abine, which also makes the free anticookie software Taco, sells an à la carte service called DeleteMe for removing specific pieces of content. Removing customer information from 16 of the top online databases costs $75, for instance, while removing specific search-engine results, YouTube videos and Web content is $10 to $50 an entry.

"Very few people would bother" jumping through such hoops on their own, said Eugene Kuznetsov, chairman of Abine. "It's purposely made difficult for a person with a full-time job and other things to do."

Which is exactly what the snoops are counting on.

Edited April 15, 2011 by raccoon

[raccoon 53]

The only thing that saves us from the bureaucracy is inefficiency. An efficient bureaucracy is the greatest threat to liberty.

-- Eugene McCarthy, Time magazine

[digitalnirvana 646]

It's just ridiculous to drag this issue so long for to increase the revenue for print and electronic media.

Ask all the telecom operators to ban everything which can't be decrypted real-time in their n/w by deadline say 1st June 2011.

End of the story....why so much unnecessary drama here.....

As malicious RIM has been scandalizing it as whole-industry issue, let them have guts to lead a consortium consisting of all data players of the world and form an encryption platform in a way that it can only be decrypted real-time by security agencies but no else including them.

I can bet they'll never ever do it since after all they're working for Canadian agencies.

The government agencies are to be blamed here not RIM. They will try to play hardball but the government should be clear what is wants and that should be uniform for all operators. Instead the government is dilly dallying and sending out mixed signals. If RIM is not subject to any bans so far then why is Nokia being treated differently?

Inefficiency is the buzzword for the government.

[kesav 127]

I completely agree on the point that our Govt is totally spineless on enforcement of such important security measure.

At the same time, RIM is totally unethical and irresponsible in its dealing on this matter with Indian Govt which you can easily understand if you spare time to go through entire thread......

RIM has tried to arm twist the Govt first through media and then through Canadian Govt and then by dragging their competitors and so on.....

RIM was never ever transparent on this issue........

[kesav 127]

Home ministry asks DoT, DIT to review laws to ensure access of services

The home ministry has asked the departments of telecommunication (DOT) and information technology (DIT) to examine the existing legal framework and recommend appropriate amendments of the law to ensure smooth access to services like BlackBerry and Skype.

The move comes in the midst of the ongoing standoff between the government and service providers like Research In Motion (BlackBerry) on the lawful interception of their services. The issue is yet to be resolved amicably.

"The DoT and DIT are requested to examine the Indian Telegraph Act 1885, Information Technology (Amendment Act), 2007, rules under the Telegraph and IT Acts and provisions in the licence agreements and recommend appropriate amendments so that requirements, to the extent possible, are incorporated in the Act itself," a home ministry official said.

While outlining the requirements of the law enforcement agencies, the home ministry said the telecom service providers must ensure delivery of authorised intercepts based on telephone number, device identity, email ID, IP addresses, keywords etc, to the LEAs in an enclair manner naturally readable, audible and viewable format in real time followed by intercept-related information in legible format in near-real time.

"The telecom and internet services should include not only the services provided by the Indian telecom service providers and internet service providers but also the third party service providers like Google, Yahoo, Skype, RIM (Blackberry) etc," the home ministry communique said.

Ensure bulk call detail records (CDR) as requisitioned by LEAs with reference to Base Transceiver Station (BTS), Content Management System (CMS), specific period, country of origin/destination etc. The period of retention of the CDRs should be for five years, it said.

Interception is to be made possible in cases of organised crime, heinous crimes, subversion, incitement to disaffection, enquiry into cases of leakage etc, under the Indian Telegraph Act and the Information Technology (Amendment) Act 2008.

Various stake holders are to be made criminally liable, besides the imposition of fine for violating or failing to meet the security requirements under the said Acts, it said.

Besides, there is a need to harmonise provisions of both the Acts and make penalty stiffer in term of both liability and fine and the applicability of both the Acts to the service providers and users, the home ministry said.

"Ensure bulk Internet Protocol Detail Record (IPDR) as requisitioned by LEAs with reference to source IP, destination IP, date, time URL, email ID etc, even if it requires deep packet inspection. The period of retention of IPDRs should be for five years."

source :: http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_home-ministry-asks-dot-dit-to-review-laws-to-ensure-access-of-services_1532818

[digitalnirvana 646]

^

This is welcome move. Sets out clear guidelines.

[kesav 127]

Has the department issued any directive to Nokia for banning of its push-mail services?

We have not issued any such directive but there have been some references from the home ministry and security agencies saying that such services should not be allowed. We have, so far, not issued a ban or any blanket ban on such services. We are still looking at such security issues internally. All the services which use encryption in one form or the other are being looked at. The issues here are not company-specific, but being looked at from a generic point of view and what is required from a security point of view.

source :: http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/qa-r-chandrashekhar-secretary-dot/432589/