According to the Economic Times, India’s government has asked the Department of Telecommunications (DOT) to send a notice to RIM, Skype, and Google requesting that each service open its email and other communication data to the Indian government. The data must be presented in a format that is readable by security and intelligence agencies and has given each company 15 days to comply with this request. If a company fails to meet this deadline, it risks being banned or blocked by the government of India. This latest request escalates the ongoing dispute between RIM and India over access to RIM’s proprietary BIS and BES services and expands it to include these other service providers. Neither RIM, Skype, nor Google has responded to this latest request so we will have wait to see how this all turns out.
[Via ComputerWorld]