BlackBerry Blackout in India?
As per the news reported by Timesnow, the Indian intelligence services are “putting pressure on Govt to clamp down on Blackberry”.
“This comes after e-mails were found to have played a vital role in terror communications in the aftermath of the Glasgow, Mumbai and Hyderabad blasts.
Intelligence agencies say Blackberry devices flout license rules and Govt has urged to levy Rs 50 crore fine on Blackberry service providers”
Indian govt’s basic concern with Blackberry service is the location of blackberry servers
“..communication between Blackberry owners in the country is routed through a server located outside of the country, which is against Indian law. As per new telecom guidelines unveiled last year — control of remote access that includes activation, transfer of data, and termination — has to be within the country and not at a remote location abroad.[via] “
Well, if the govt. cannot upgrade it’s digital security infrastructure, the best way to cope up is to block services that are equipped with better infrastructure.
How cool is that?
About the author - Ashish Sinha is a Startup Mentor/Product Strategy Coach, and the founder/chief editor of pluGGd.in.
He has launched/managed couple of products (consumer as well as enterprise) in US and India, and now consults with startups/small businesses on their product/media strategy. He can be reached at: ashish (at) pluGGd.in [+91 98452 06443]
Of course the problem of infrastructure is genuine one. But what the Indian intelligence services are demanding is very plausible considering the security scenario and you cannot erect the infrastructure in few weeks and even if the infrastructure comes up, the Service Provider will require time to shift the facilities.
Therefore discontinuing services is correct as a stop gap measure. But Government needs to more to enhance infrastructure.
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