After BlackBerry won a reprieve, Google and Skype stepped into the firing line yesterday as India’s security agencies widened their crackdown on telecom firms.
India’s 1.1 million BlackBerry users heaved a sigh of relief late on Monday after the government gave the smartphone’s manufacturer a two-month window to provide a permanent solution to avert a ban on its corporate message services.
Security forces in India, battling insurgencies ranging from Kashmir in the northwest to the far-flung northeast, are insisting that telecom groups give them the capability to monitor their data.
PHOTO: EPA
Skype, the Internet phone service, and Google, which uses powerful encryption technology for its Gmail e-mail service, are set to be next to receive an ultimatum from the spies in New Delhi.
“The notices to these entities will be issued beginning Tuesday [yesterday] and all of them will be asked to comply with the directive or else they will have to close down their networks,” a senior official told PTI news agency late on Monday.
India is also targeting “virtual private networks,” which give employees secure access to their company networks when they are working out of the office.
A spokesman for Google, Gaurav Bhaskar, said the company was yet to receive a notice.
“Once we receive it we will be in a better position to comment on what they are looking for,” he said, adding that he expected the concern to be the Gmail service.
The maker of the BlackBerry, Canada’s Research in Motion (RIM), has proposed setting up a server in India through which BlackBerry messages can be routed, the home ministry said in a statement.
RIM’s proposals for “lawful access” to its messages would be “operationalized immediately” and their feasibility assessed, the ministry said.
A RIM official said the company had not compromised its public commitment to make no special deals with governments.
Analysts note that other security-conscious nations such as China and Russia appear to be satisfied that their intelligence agencies have sufficient access to BlackBerry communications, although the arrangements between RIM and these countries are not known.
BlackBerry has also been facing a threatened Oct. 11 ban by the United Arab Emirates and has been negotiating with Saudi Arabia on security issues.
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
RULES BROKEN: The MAC warned Chinese not to say anything that would be harmful to the autonomous status of Taiwan or undermine its sovereignty A Chinese couple accused of disrupting a pro-democracy event in Taipei organized by Hong Kong residents has been deported, the National Immigration Agency said in a statement yesterday afternoon. A Chinese man, surnamed Yao (姚), and his wife were escorted by immigration officials to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, where they boarded a flight to China before noon yesterday, the agency said. The agency said that it had annulled the couple’s entry permits, citing alleged contraventions of the Regulations Governing the Approval of Entry of People of the Mainland Area into the Taiwan Area (大陸地區人民進入台灣地區許可辦法). The couple applied to visit a family member in
RSS