What's at stake in BlackBerry crisis

The BlackBerry crisis

Large internet and telecom firms challenge the notion of a nation state. That's why governments want to control them



What's at stake in BlackBlerry crisis

Large internet and telecom companies challenge the notion of a nation state. This is why governments would like to control them

The dilemma of striking the right balance between the imperatives of national security and individual privacy is an old one. But with rapid and dramatic changes in meaning.

In recent weeks no issue has brought this up as starkly as pressure on Research in Motion (RIM), the Canadian makers and operators of the BlackBerry encrypted mobile communication system, to let governments from the UAE to Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and India to have access to the source code.

Countries such as Saudi Arabia or the UAE are not democracies and the attempt seems to be to control those who live there by prying into their lives. In India, the official reason is that we want to view BlackBerry messages to fight jehadi and Maoist terrorism.

While this is probably true, it could also be a ploy to spy on political opponents and critics of the government, whether in media or civil society, can't be dismissed. This is especially so since communication through the BlackBerry system is the only one not open to the government's prying eyes in any country. Everything else, from emails to social networking sites to files on your computer are accessible to the digital spooks.

Even services offered by telecom operators on smart-phones such as the iPhone or Android have encryption codes that are easily cracked by security agencies. In BlackBerry alone, the 256-bit encryption used by governments and companies has not been cracked, which is why Barack Obama continues to use his gadget after being elected president of the US.

The BlackBerry uses simpler encryption for systems used by other people, including terrorists. Two years ago, the Indian terrorists. Two years ago, the Indian authorities had claimed that they had cracked the code and were able to intercept emails sent from the BlackBerry system to other networks such as Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications and Vodafone-Essar. But they were unable to get to the BlackBerry Enterprise Service (BES) and its messenger service, the key to its security architecture.

RIM has agreed to open its SMS and voice services to intelligence agencies, and has been given a deadline till August 31 to open up its BES and messenger service. These impregnable systems offer RIM their USP. After the Indian ultimatum, BlackBerry stated on its website: "The security architecture is the same around the world and RIM truly has no ability to provide its customers' encryption keys. Also driving RIM's position is a fundamental commercial requirement for any country to attract and maintain international business anyway."

The spat between RIM and governments is only the latest in confrontations between nation states and companies in the digital world. Early this year, Google chose to suspend its operations in China rather than submit to surveillance and continue filtering its search engine in China. Skype, which allows people to make calls over the internet for free, bowed to Chinese pressure by censoring text messages which had certain words. Apart from Google, which had restricted certain search terms, Microsoft has taken down blogs, and Yahoo has provided information to the authorities that may have been used to track down dissidents.

Large internet and telecom companies challenge the notion of a nation state. Since the information they carry, or give access to, is potentially of such great influence in the world, governments would like to control this genie that flits in an out of cyberspace.

The genie is out of the bottle and the consequences are unpredictable. The digital world is leading to a resurgence of democratic organisation that is only now beginning to be understood. Social networking, SMS, emails and cheap long-distance telephony make it possible to contact large numbers of people quickly and cheaply. Undoubtedly terrorists are also using these networks. To counter them one needs careful intelligence at the ground level rather than a heavy bludgeon that tramples on our rights as well.

Demand for access to source codes could be a ploy to spy on political opponents and critics of the government, in the media or civil society