Indian Government Demands Right To Spy On Skype, Gmail, Blackberry Messages
from the spying-more-important-than-productivity dept
Last year we noted that Indian intelligence officials were quite concerned about Skype, and the fact that they couldn't easily tap into communications on Skype. Two years ago, we noted a similar story concerning RIM Blackberry emails. Now Slashdot points us to the news that India's government is once again demanding that Skype and RIM make sure their services are in formats that can be read by law enforcement. A separate article says similar demands are being made on Google with respect to Gmail.Of course, last time this happened (with RIM, at least), RIM pointed out that there's simply no way for it to decrypt email sent by users, since it's based on an encryption key set up by the end user. In response, the Indian government claimed that it had cracked the encryption used by Blackberries and was able to monitor messages sent via those devices. Of course, the fact that it's now pressuring RIM to format messages in easily spied-upon ways, certainly suggests the news of the cracking of Blackberry's encryption was somewhat exaggerated.
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Filed Under: blackberry, encrypted, gmail, india, messages, skype, spying
Companies: google, rim, skype
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India
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Never Depend on Somebody Else for Your Security
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Re: Never Depend on Somebody Else for Your Security
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Re: Never Depend on Somebody Else for Your Security
Ah, but you are depending on somebody else for your security. You are depending on the crypto people who designed and wrote the proofs for the algorithms you are using. Unless you are on the level of a Bruce Schneier, you have to depend on their knowledge and integrity.
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Justice for All
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Re: Justice for All
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Re:
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So What?
We also use an encryption software for email and other documents.
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used for wrong reasons
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If you don't protect your privacy, you WILL lose it
Thunderbirg+GPG (up to 1024 bit encryption) or TrulyMail (4096 bit encryption) or Outlook+PGP (up to 1024 bit encryption) these are all solutions to keep your messages private. The government might say they have broken the encryption but I think if a cryptographer found a hole in public key cryptography they would want to publish their work and get a job making big money - rather than working for the Indian government.
Use the tools and keep it private. It's our right.
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