The fate of BlackBerry's encrypted e-mail and messaging services in India will be decided in last-ditch talks starting on Thursday between the smart phone's maker and security agencies ahead of an August 31 deadline.
Time is running out for BlackBerry's maker, Canada's Research in Motion, to give the Indian government the means to track and read its secure e-mail and instant messaging services that officials fear have the potential to be misused by militants and to create political instability.
BlackBerry's troubles in India, which could cut it out from one of the world's fastest growing mobile phone markets, are the latest in the firm's global headaches as governments worry its encrypted services could be used for activities from terrorism to peddling pornography.
"Deliberations will go on for the next two days and a final decision will be taken on Monday," a senior interior ministry official told Reuters. A RIM source confirmed the meeting.
"Hopefully they will come up with some solution," the ministry official added. Last week, India said it will allow BlackBerry's messenger service to continue beyond the August 31 deadline after RIM assured India of manual access to instant messages by September 1, and automated access by November.
The government reiterated on Thursday it will shut down RIM's secure e-mail service if no solution is found.
"In case no solution is provided those services which cannot be intercepted and monitored in readable format may be banned by the government," India's junior telecoms minister, Sachin Pilot, said in Parliament.
A shutdown would affect about 1 million users in India out of a total 41 million BlackBerry users worldwide, allowing them to use the devices only for calls and Internet browsing.
RIM uses powerful codes to scramble, or encrypt, e-mail messages as they travel between a BlackBerry device and a computer known as a BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) that is designed to secure those e-mails.
Indian telecommunication officials said they had been told by RIM the only way an e-mail could be intercepted is when it temporarily stores itself in a server in a decrypted form before it gets delivered.
"We will discuss all possibilities and see if we can come up with any solution," another Indian government source said. India is one of a number of countries putting pressure on RIM, which has built the reputation of the BlackBerry, popular with business professionals and politicians, around confidentiality.
Governments such as Saudi Arabia's fear it could become a tool to plan militant attacks or for those breaking Islamic laws.