Cause for concern

New Delhi, April 27 (PTI): Canada has questioned India’s department of telecom’s (DoT) approach in resolving the BlackBerry issue and has expressed doubt whether those involved on the Indian side are empowered to settle the matter.

In a letter to India’s communications and IT minister A. Raja, Canadian high commissioner David M. Malone said, “We and Research In Motion (RIM) need to understand who in the Government of India is empowered to resolve this issue. This is necessary in order to ensure the right representative from RIM at the table.”

The discussion managed by the DoT has inspired little confidence that those involved on the Indian side are actually empowered to settle the matter as the government’s demands of RIM keep expanding while media leaks proliferate, some of them very damaging from a security perspective.

“Potential terrorists are now aware of technical issues unknown to most of us previously,” he said in the latter dated April 17.

Last week Raja had said the issue would be resolved within a week but going by the letter of Malone, it looks like both the parties — the DoT and RIM — are yet to even agree upon who from India will be negotiating. BlackBerry maker RIM is based in Canada.

BlackBerry services came under a cloud after security agencies expressed fears that terror groups could use the service, including emails, to communicate without being monitored by Indian agencies as data is routed through servers abroad. From the trade perspective, the focus on RIM by the DoT would appear to be discriminatory given the myriad of other technologies available and offering similar security features, Malone said.

The apparent willingness of Indian officials to negotiate via the media has made effective negotiations difficult while exposing India’s security concerns to extensive public scrutiny and debate.

“While we acknowledge the importance of security measures to combat terrorism, as well as the need for effective telecommunication regulations, there needs to be a balance between such measures and maintaining a supportive business environment for both foreign and domestic companies,” the Canadian high commissioner said.