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India should not take risk on tech front: Pilot

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CIOL Bureau
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NEW DELHI, INDIA: Minister of State for Telecommunications Sachin Pilot today said that the telecom operators should allow the government the lawful interception of BlackBerry's Messenger and enterprise services for the sake of the country's security and India should not take any risk as far as technology is concerned.

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“The Home Minister has very clearly pointed out the requirements of the law enforcement agencies. We from the Department of Telecommunications have told the telecom operators that they have to provide us the right to lawful interception,” the minister said here today on the sidelines of an e-governance seminar.

RIM officials began talks on access to encrypted data with the home and telecom ministry Thursday.

Talks are scheduled for the next few days and "I am hopeful we will come up with some solution", added Pilot.

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Blackberry had said on Thursday that singling out and banning one solution, such as the BlackBerry solution, would be ineffective and counter-productive and the government should look at other highly encrypted solutions present in the country.

While justifying the Home Minister's concerns about the security issues pertaining to BlackBerry services, Pilot said that in rare eventuality, legal interceptions need to be done.

“The government must have the tools to protect the country and its citizen from any untoward situation that might be planned using the technology. I think these concerns have been addressed in other parts of the world. I see no reason why Indian government and security agencies should take any risk at all as far as technology is concerned.”

Telecom operators are of the opinion that they can't stop the Blackberry service because, when one message is transmitted from Blackberry device, then it is transmitted through BlackBerry servers only.

RIM had said on Thursday that banning only BlackBerry will not solve the security issue.

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