Google Refuses To Share Encryption Keys With India
What would you do if your Gmail services were compromised?
Let's say, not by some Gmail hack, but by the Government in a bid to assure the security of the nation. Most of us would freak out. For us, email is one of the most secure form of communication, however, the Indian government has a different perspective.
The government of India seems to believe that communication for most terror attacks and potential threats takes place over internet services which cannot be monitored by the company for these services use private encryption mechanisms.
Consider, the case of Research in Motion which was asked to set up a dedicated server in India to allow monitoring of all communication taking place over Blackberry devices in India. Skype isn’t too far behind in the scanner and now it’s none other than the big web giant Google.
Yes, the Indian government appears to be keen on monitoring gmail and data services offered by Google in the country. This would enable the government to monitor communication of Gmail users in India in a bid to reaffirm security of the country and thwart any potential threats.
Let's say, not by some Gmail hack, but by the Government in a bid to assure the security of the nation. Most of us would freak out. For us, email is one of the most secure form of communication, however, the Indian government has a different perspective.
The government of India seems to believe that communication for most terror attacks and potential threats takes place over internet services which cannot be monitored by the company for these services use private encryption mechanisms.
Consider, the case of Research in Motion which was asked to set up a dedicated server in India to allow monitoring of all communication taking place over Blackberry devices in India. Skype isn’t too far behind in the scanner and now it’s none other than the big web giant Google.
Yes, the Indian government appears to be keen on monitoring gmail and data services offered by Google in the country. This would enable the government to monitor communication of Gmail users in India in a bid to reaffirm security of the country and thwart any potential threats.
Google however declined to share the Gmail encryption keys with the Indian government citing that it cannot compromise the security (and trust) of millions of users using Gmail services in India.
Also, Google explained the decision to deny key sharing with India by stating that Google services including Gmail were bound to Google Inc., which was founded and established in USA and is governed by the laws of USA, and so the Google services in India cannot (and will not) be easily altered.
Vinay Goel, Chief at Google India Products was quoted by Economic Times as saying that Google is “open to offering the Indian government access to encrypted Gmail communication in the event of a large-scale risk to human life and property” which is obviously an unpredictable affair. However, otherwise, the company will not afford to compromise the security of Gmail India users.
According to a report in Economic Times, the Indian government doesn’t have the necessary technical resources to intercept and monitor communication protected by high-level encryption methods which is why it has asked the Indian ISPs to use a toned-down encryption system that would enable the government to monitor the data easily.
While RIM is supposed to set up the server in India by the end of January 2011, it is not known how the security matter with Google India will turn-out in the coming days. By far, Google is one of the largest email providers in India and any effort to compromise the security will certainly raise possible protects and ingest agony among the user base.
Also, Google explained the decision to deny key sharing with India by stating that Google services including Gmail were bound to Google Inc., which was founded and established in USA and is governed by the laws of USA, and so the Google services in India cannot (and will not) be easily altered.
Vinay Goel, Chief at Google India Products was quoted by Economic Times as saying that Google is “open to offering the Indian government access to encrypted Gmail communication in the event of a large-scale risk to human life and property” which is obviously an unpredictable affair. However, otherwise, the company will not afford to compromise the security of Gmail India users.
According to a report in Economic Times, the Indian government doesn’t have the necessary technical resources to intercept and monitor communication protected by high-level encryption methods which is why it has asked the Indian ISPs to use a toned-down encryption system that would enable the government to monitor the data easily.
While RIM is supposed to set up the server in India by the end of January 2011, it is not known how the security matter with Google India will turn-out in the coming days. By far, Google is one of the largest email providers in India and any effort to compromise the security will certainly raise possible protects and ingest agony among the user base.
