Research In Motion (RIM) has reportedly offered a technical fix to help India gain access to encrypted data in an effort to stave off a ban on the BlackBerry.
Indian authorities have threatened to shut down BlackBerry data services after August 31 if they are unable to read encrypted BlackBerry data.
Quoting an unnamed government source, the Economic Times said RIM had “assured that they will come with some technical solution for messenger and enterprise mail next week.”
RIM had denied earlier reports that it would offer technical help to open up encrypted data on its servers, claiming it would only allow access to data under judicial oversight.
The Canadian firm won’t comment on other reports that it has agreed to offer India’s security services manual access to individual user data by September 1, with an automated set-up to follow by the end of the year, according to the Hindustan Times.
Separately, in an apparent effort to gain leverage over RIM, the government has told carriers to prepare to intercept messages sent on BlackBerry smartphones without the device maker’s help.
The move could result in RIM’s e-mail and messaging services being shut down because the operators don’t have the capability to provide intercept services without RIM’s help, the Times of India reports.
Any closure would hit RIM’s pin-to-pin messenger and enterprise services, which both use encrypted data, however it would not cover email and messaging services from Yahoo, Google and MSN, or RIM’s voice and SMS services, the newspaper said.
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