BlackBerry in troubled waters again

The efforts made by BlackBerry for intercepting its messenger services to address the government's concerns seem to have backfired. With security agencies harping on the need for information to be given on a real-time basis, Sachin Pilot, Minister of State for Communications, has further hinted at a possible ban if BlackBerry failed to extend calls and data passing through their networks to these security agencies.

Earlier, BlackBerry has offered to provide information on a deferred basis to agencies after it faced the threat of a shutdown of the core features by August 31. The Research In Motion (RIM), along with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), had submitted a proposal for intercepting the BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) services.  

However, the security agencies insisted on real-time information rather than a deferred one in the interest of national security. The BlackBerry maker is now racing against time to meet the August 31 deadline, seeking a solution for intercepting the BBM and BlackBerry Enterprise Mail (BES).