MUMBAI, INDIA: The year 1999 changed the way we looked at mobile devices with the advent of RIM (Research In Motion), a Canada-based entity.

RIM made it possible for users to surf the net on their handsets in addition to aiding its customers to send documents, read emails. It quickly garnered a fan following that was addicted to its superior features.

With secured Internet services becoming the order of the day, BlackBerry began to offer its patrons an encryption code, which scuttled out the emails that went out of the BlackBerry device and un-scuttle the very same message after it hits the target.

The company uses a 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) process, considered to be a top-notch algorithm that is difficult to decode.

Cyber experts opine that the Intelligence Bureau (IB), India’s internal intelligence agency, can only reach encryption levels of 40 bits and it is widely speculated that they are fast acquiring superior software handling capabilities.

While the IB is in the process of updating its software armory, it has an option of asking the government to ask RIM for the unlocking keys or probably bring down the encryption code to 40 bits.

Also read: Govt barking up the wrong tree

Despite the brouhaha over BlackBerry, the device is here to stay. Siddhartha Behura, Secretary at the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), stated that BlackBerry was not being banned and the issues would be resolved amicably between the government and the telecom players. That move would have affected about four lakh users in the country and as pointed out by some analysts, caused extreme concern amongst users to send information over their BlackBerries.

What the Constitution says?

There are many who point out the Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees Protection of Life and Personal Liberty. Additionally, according to the Section 69 of the IT Act of 2000, the government is devoid of any power to catch information in the electronic domain and this move by the government would have taken things far.

While speaking to CyberMedia News, Akhilesh Tuteja, executive director, KPMG stated: "BlackBerry uses an AES technology which is a 250 bit code and in the government scheme of things, it is illegal. Now, BlackBerry is not complying with the regulation of an ISP."

He however feels that there is a need to find a balance as not everything can be opened up just because it's a national issue. On the other hand, one cannot blindly say there is nothing to disclose as it's a privacy issue. So a middle path needs to be worked out.

"I don't think either the extreme of giving an outright surveillance is the solution and at the same time not addressing is also not a solution," added Tuteja.

There is a school of thought, which says that a 40-bit code can be cracked but to crack a code above that requires the keys to be given to the government, as in the case of Internet Explorer 7 that runs on a 128-bit code.

Final solution

Tuteja agreed that terrorists convey messages at the speed of Internet connectivity. "As terrorist activities are happening through the Internet channels, you need to find a balance and I don't know what that balance actually is."

Clearly, the solution would be for the government and the operators to sit together to crack the crime code.

(prasadr@cybermedia.co.in)

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