Big Brother is not only ubiquitous, keeping tabs on everybody, he is also prone to imposing bans. The latest victim of Big Brother’s expansive notions of control is the device called the Blackberry. Owned by the Canadian communication company, Research in Motion, the Blackberry has transformed the working life of millions across the world. In India, about 4,00,000 persons subscribe to the Blackberry. All these persons may lose the use of the device that connects them to the world if the government of India is allowed to have its way. The Central government had directed all Blackberry service providers to stop their services by December 31, 2007. This order was subsequently extended till the end of March, 2008. The order directly affects Airtel, BPL, Reliance Communications and Vodafone, and it became public only when Tata Teleservices management was asked about its reluctance to launch Blackberry services. The ostensible reason behind the order is the government’s concern about security. The government discovered that it cannot check the content of RIM servers that were located in Canada and other foreign shores. The government believes that it should, for security reasons, be in a position to intercept and read emails. All emails go through some form of encryption whose key is available to security agencies. But in the case of emails through the Blackberry, the consent of RIM is necessary. The government, therefore, wants to ban the Blackberry.

In an era of global terrorism, the government’s fears cannot be ridiculed. But the security fears must be placed against the growing demand for privacy in modern life — in business, in professional life and in personal relationships. Indeed, the need for private space, free from the interventions of the State, is seen as an important component of modern life and of democracy. The State in India cannot on a whim ban the use of the Blackberry. This would be to throw the baby out with the bathwater, since some experts point out that any email originating in India can always be intercepted. Only emails originating in a Blackberry device need the decryption. Surely, the RIM’s consent for this can be obtained if the need is urgent and genuine. What is truly objectionable in the episode is the State’s claim that it has an automatic claim to invade and monitor people’s private correspondence. Only a totalitarian State operates on such an assumption.