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Indian officials meet for decision on BlackBerry ban

Updated: 2010-08-31 13:56

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Indian officials met on Monday to decide whether to ban some BlackBerry services by Research In Motion (RIM), a Canadian telecom company, day before the deadline runs out for the firm to give security agencies access to its secure data.

Government sources have said the Aug 31 deadline could be extended should RIM say it has a solution to allowing monitoring of e-mails and asks for more time to avoid disruption of its services in the world's fastest-growing mobile phone market.

Monday's meeting will consider a technical report prepared after two days of talks last week between RIM officials and Indian security agencies.

The report, sources said, contains some suggestions on how a secure e-mail on BlackBerry may be accessed.

"A final decision will be taken after considering all aspects and national security interests," a source in the interior ministry told Reuters.

The outcome of the meeting may not be announced on Monday. The sources asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

India says it wants the means to fully track and read BlackBerry's secure e-mail and instant messaging services that officials fear could be misused by militants.

India could become the first country to ban the services, even though several governments have raised concerns about the popular device over activities - from terrorism to peddling pornography.

Saudi Arabia, fretful over online services like pornography, has reached a deal with RIM on the messenger service, a consumer product outside of the secure corporate domain.

India, too, has reached a deal till November on Messenger service, according to government sources.

Such concerns have also been raised by Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, with the latter giving RIM an Oct 11 deadline.

Analysts see no easy fix to the standoff as RIM says it has no way of intercepting the data that countries want access to. RIM has denied media reports that say it provided unique wireless services or access to any one country.

Questions:

1. What is the name of the services being banned?

2. What is the function of the services?

3. Why are they being banned?

Answers:

1. BlackBerry services by Research in Motion (RIM).

2. Secure Email and Messaging.

3. Government fears use by militants.

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Todd Balazovic is a reporter for the Metro Section of China Daily. Born in Mineapolis Minnesota in the US, he graduated from Central Michigan University and has worked for the China daily for one year.