According to the Economic Times, India’s government has asked the Department of Telecommunications (DOT) to send a notice to RIM, Skype, and Google requesting that each service open its email and other communication data to the Indian government. The data must be presented in a format that is readable by security and intelligence agencies and has given each company 15 days to comply with this request. If a company fails to meet this deadline, it risks being banned or blocked by the government of India.
Skype and the BlackBerry service could face a ban in India if they do not comply within 15 days, according to reports in The Economic Times, and The Hindu Business Line. A similar notice is also being sent to Google asking it to provide access to content on Gmail in a readable format.
Both reports cite minutes of a joint meeting of the country’s home ministry, the DOT, and security agencies.
India’s security agencies have for a long time asked for greater access to online data communications as they worry that terrorists could be planning attacks using such services.
India’s Information Technology (Amendment) Act 2008 now makes it easier for India’s security agencies to demand that service providers should make decryption keys available to security agencies when required.
On receipt of a decryption order, the decryption key holder concerned must within the period stated in the decryption direction disclose the decryption key, or provide the decryption assistance, according to the rules to the new Act.