Indian Intelligence upset by Nokia, RIM

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Nokia’s push email service seems to be in troubled waters after the Indian Intelligence Bureau questioned its security authentication.
The Intelligence Bureau (IB) has sent a note to the Indian telecom department asking to stop Nokia’s popular messaging services in India until the Finnish company gives them monitoring access.
In a letter written to the telecom department, IB raised concerns over security and asked for monitoring arrangements, yet to be addressed. What has apparently saddened the intelligence agency is the ‘adamant’ attitude of Nokia as it continues to openly advertise its push email service in the market.
Countering the allegations, Nokia India sources said, “our messaging offering is still in the beta format in India and the requisite infrastructure required by security agencies is being put in place.”
This is not the first time the IB has raised concerns over push email services. It had earlier threatened to stop Blackberry’s service too. Now, it has again sought the telecom department’s stern action against Research in Motion (RIM), the makers of Blackberry.

The IB has asked the DoT to put RIM on a 15 day deadline to ensure that all data carried from and to Blackberry devices can be monitored by IB.
This obviously causes significant privacy concerns for the customers of both companies, and one which could lead to a drop in sales. The USP that these mobile phones hold might be reversed if security agencies are given access to consumers’ mails.
Unfortunately, the Indian government seems to care little about privacy, already having demanded that RIM install a system to allow for the interception of data sent via its handsets, giving the reasoning that it fears Blackberry’s services could be exploited by terrorists.