BlackBerry may get extended deadline

New Delhi, Aug. 27: India may extend an August 31 deadline in its standoff with Research In Motion (RIM) if the BlackBerry maker says it has a solution and asks for more time.

“If they say we have a solution and ask for time then we will see,” Reuters said quoting a senior government source on Friday.

However, the officials said the solution must pass through field trials.

India has insisted it would block some BlackBerry services next week if the smartphone maker did not address security concerns, and government officials said they were hopeful for a solution soon.

The government, however, said that it would not risk national security for technology. “These concerns have been addressed in other parts of the world, I see no reason why the Indian government and agencies should take any risk at all as far technology is concerned,” the minister of state for communication and IT, Mr Sachin Pilot, told reporters here.

However, Mr Pilot made it clear that the government was not in the business of shutting down services. “Discussions are ongoing. We are not in the business of shutting down services,” he said.

If India does ban BlackBerry services, it would be the first country to do so, even though several governments have raised security concerns about the popular device.

The Canada-based smartphone maker RIM, however, said that it has no “master key” or “back door” to accommodate requests for access to encrypted data.

“RIM does not possess a ‘master key’, nor does any ‘back door’ exist in the system that would allow RIM or any third party, under any circumstances, to gain access to encrypted corporate information,” the company said in a statement.

But it had offered to lead an industry forum to look at India’s need to have “lawful access” to its encrypted mail and messenger in an effort to stave off the blocking of the popular service in the world’s fastest growing telecoms market.

Terming the ban would be “ineffective and counter-productive”, RIM said it would severely limit the effectiveness and productivity of the Indian business community. “The misuse of strong encryption technologies can only be truly overcome if the information and communications technology industry comes together to work with the government of India,” RIM added.

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