Thaindian News

NEW DEHLI (BNO NEWS) – The standoff between Research in Motion (RIM) and the Indian government has come to an end after RIM agreed to allow the Indian government and Indian security agencies access to BlackBerry messenger services, CNN-IBN reported.

The sudden breakthrough arrives only hours after the Indian government set a deadline for RIM as well as other mobile service providers to provide a technical solution to the security concern presented over BlackBerry’s encrypted services. RIM has supposedly given the Indian government an existing tool that enables them to access the encrypted text on a BlackBerry messenger, another tool is also being developed to give security agencies lawful access to BlackBerry devices.

However, RIM said that BlackBerry has no intention of putting a server in India. RIM skipped a meeting with the Indian government earlier, at which Vodafone and Airtel was also absent. The meeting was called to discuss the security concerns regarding the encrypted messaging service, which was supposed to last forty-five minutes but only went fifteen.

Officials from the Intelligence Bureau, National Technical Research Organization, BSNL, and the Department of Telecommunications and the Home Ministry attended the meeting. The Home Ministry reported that the results of the meeting remained inconclusive.

India, a growing market for RIM, fears that BlackBerry devices could be used for subversive activities and could present a security problem. This somewhat echoes concerns that Middle Eastern countries are having about the device, but from a different perspective, worried that the device would allow users to bypass religious laws that ban pornography and restrict contact between unrelated men and women.