Report: RIM Willing to Open Back Door for Foreign Security Agencies

BlackBerry users in Abu Dhabi take hope. Research In Motion has a solution for the security concerns behind the United Arab Emirates threats to suspend some BlackBerry services. The Economic Times reports that the company has agreed to share with Indian security agencies the technical information they need to monitor the BlackBerry services causing them discomfort. And if that is indeed the case, it may soon do the same for UAE authorities.

Faced with threats of a similar ban in India, RIM executives met with government officials there and offered a means of bringing BlackBerry services into compliance with Indian security requirements.

“After some persuasion, the (BlackBerry) representative agreed that they can provide the Metadata of the message ie the IP address of the Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) and PIN & IMEI of the BlackBerry mobile,” notes from a recent RIM meeting with Indian telecom officials reveal. “The concerned internet service provider can also tell the location of the services as well. From these information, the security agencies can easily locate the BES and obtain the decrypted message. They also stated that they have a setup to help the security agencies in tracking the messages in which security agencies are interested in.”

RIM declined comment on the report and its discussions governments about privacy rules. “RIM respects both the regulatory requirements of government and the security and privacy needs of corporations and consumers,” the company said in statement. “RIM assures its customers that it is committed to continue delivering highly secure and innovative products that satisfy the needs of both customers and governments.”