Google, Skype under scanner in India security crackdown

[JCMach1]

Source: Gulf News

BlackBerry may have won a reprieve but Google and Skype were squarely in the firing line Tuesday as India's security agencies widened their crackdown on telecom firms... Skype, the Internet phone service, and Google, which uses powerful encryption technology for its Gmail email service, are expected to be among the next wave of firms to come under New Delhi's scanner.

"If a company is providing telecom services in India then all communications must be available to Indian security services," a spokesman for the home ministry told AFP.
"If Google or Skype have a component that is not accessible, that will not be possible," he said, asking not to be named in line with standard government procedure in India. "The message is the same for everybody."... The Press Trust of India news agency reported that notices would be sent to Skype and fellow US Internet giant Google from Tuesday...

Read more: http://gulfnews.com/business/telecoms/google-skype-under-scanner-in-india-security-crackdown-1.675793

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Since they are targeting U.S. firms, how about a 50% outsourcing tax until they stop the idiocy? That would end the issue pretty quickly. Or, will the companies cave like Research in Motion did to the Saudis?

[HankyDubs]

1. If Google

wanted my support then they should have thought about that before trying to restrict freedom of the press on the internet. There should be a 500% outsourcing tax on all firms that operate in the US anyway.

[valerief]

3. That's funny! The US restricting outsourcing! Bwahahahahaha! How would they get

rid of our jobs without "free trade" outsourcing? They (the ones controlling the purse strings) don't want Americans to have jobs. At least, it sure seems that way.

[JCMach1]

6. +1000

[SpeechlessDem]

2. funny

Just when Cisco is about to buy Skype lol

[cosmicone]

4. What has outsourcing got to do with it?

Did you know that Pakistani terrorists in India (including the Mumbai terror attack perpetrators) routinely use Skype, gmail and blackberry to communicate with their ISI handlers?

Pakistani government then denies any involvement.

This is a security measure where all three (Blackberry, Google and Skype) give the backdoor access to the NSA and the FBI routinely. India is demanding the same access for its security.

I don't see any problem with this.

[JCMach1]

7. Encryption is available to anyone... regardless of building it into software

However, government snooping is LIMITED by keeping them out of our software.

Be careful, now the Saudis can snoop on your Blackberry traffic at will! That's the kind of thing we are talking about.

As for outsourcing... we give them the freedom to take our jobs. Surely, ensuring that governments don't snoop at leisure through your private stuff (and their own citizens) is worth growing a backbone... i.e. hit them where it hurts.

[cosmicone]

8. Mobile devices are used by terrorists during commission

of terrorist attacks.

They are a major threat. If you want to keep your stuff private, use a desktop PC and a landline phone.

There is no need for encrypted communication on a mobile device unless you are doing something nefarious. People in India are not protesting the government's request to Blackberry, Google, Skype et al.

Several hundred people have died in India and a few thousand injured because of Pakistanis using cell phones and communicating with their ISI handlers have planted explosives etc. in crowded malls and trains.

Indians don't have a right to protect themselves?

[JCMach1]

9. Encryption is always available to individuals... terrorists will use these

... what it does is open the whole can of worms open for the government to snoop about anything and everything.

Sorry, but I think private conversations should be private unless a warrant has been issued (i.e. probable cause).

What the Indian government doesn't and shouldn't have the power to do is open these networks up where they compromise my privacy and their own citizens.

Terrorism does not trump a right to privacy... sorry.

[cosmicone]

10. The NSA and the FBI have the same powers ....

and I don't see people complaining or protesting.

[PSPS]

11. Not really

At least there is supposed to be the FISA court to protect wholesale eavesdropping on domestic communication. (Of course, Bush started and Obama continues the illegality of ignoring this.)

If you haven't been aware of "people complaining or protesting" these illegal activities, you must have been out of town or something.

[cprise]

12. comiscone is right

The technical issue of the government having full access is the topic here. The FISA court is a legal (not technological) construct... and unlike a technological protocol or deivce it can be ignored at will.

The Indian gov't wants the technical ability to tap communications whenever it needs to... whether their process involves warrants and FISA-like courts is another matter.

[TheMadMonk]

13. They also use pen and paper, regular land lines, 2-way radios,...

...heliographs, the postal service and small boys carrying notes.

Shall we restrict reading and writing to scribes of proven loyalty, record all telephone conversations, ban CBs and ham radio, break all the mirrors, restrict all postal communications to open cards, and cripple children?


Here's a radical idea: If everybody stopped trying to run everyone else's lives this shit would stop.

[cosmicone]

14. That is a specious argument ...

The gun control opponents use a variation "... since knives, baseball bats and tire irons also kill people, if you're going to ban guns, you should also ban knives, baseball bats and tire irons.." without considering the fact that only guns have the ability to kill from a distance with no chance for the victims to defend themselves.

Surely terrorists communicate with land lines and notes written with a pencil and paper but neither can be used to communicate during the commission of an ongoing terrorist act like the Pakistani terrorists routinely do. The Mumbai terrorists were actually asking their ISI handlers about where to go next and getting instructions on in which direction to fire.

Thus, mobile device encryption poses a danger that paper and pencil or landlines or HAM radio simply don't.

[OhioChick]

5. Agree with your comment. n/t