14 DAY TRIAL // The Indian government is set on getting full access to any communications that happen in the country and are now starting to go after any company that doesn't provide it access, with Google and Skype on top of the list.
The government has given RIM, maker of BlackBerry phones, a two months reprieve to straighten out some details, but the phone maker appears to have already agreed to some concessions in the country.
The issue, for the Indian government, is that it demands access to any communication tool, for internal security purposes. However, BlackBerries encrypt much of the data to and from the device, making it impossible to intercept.
India threatened to ban the devices outright, but has now given RIM two more months to comply. But the government is far from done. It wants any company that operates a communications service to allow it access as well.
Some of the most obvious targets, as listed by the officials, are Google and Skype. Both Gmail, Google's webmail service, and Skype encrypt all communications. The encryption makes the data meaningless to any middleman which may intercept it.
Gmail has introduced HTTPS connections by default a few months back. Skype has always encrypted conversations.
There have been no official requests as of yet, but it does seem like the government is going to apply the same kind of pressure on other companies offering encrypted services.
It is said that having local data centers would be enough to appease the government. However, for both Google and Skype, that would make little difference.
Gmail data is encrypted end-to-end and Google is unlikely to voluntarily provide the government with access.
Skype uses a peer-to-peer technology for communications, again encrypted end-to-end, so the actual conversations don't even pass through any Skype servers.
Of course, it can't be expected that politicians understand how technology works and when you throw in "terrorism," everything becomes justifiable.