RIM, India will agree on BlackBerry: minister

India and Research In Motion will succeed in negotiating a compromise to keep RIM's BlackBerry service in place in the country, Canadian Federal Trade Minister Peter Van Loan suggested Friday. 

Van Loan and India Industry Minister Anand Sharma discussed the issue amid talks about trade in Ottawa.

Sharma did not answer questions on the issue, but Van Loan told reporters that India is seeking a similar arrangement with RIM that exists in Canada. He said in Canada police are allowed to intercept telephone and other forms of communications by obtaining a warrant from a judge.

"My understanding is that India is seeking the same thing, and we believe RIM can arrive at a resolution on that basis," the minister said. Such an arrangement would protect privacy, "while at the same time allowing legitimate security interests to be represented."

In August, India withdrew a threat to ban BlackBerry service for at least two months while it reviewed RIM's proposals to give security agencies greater access to corporate email and instant messaging.

Terror attacks prompted review

India began a sweeping security review after the November 2008 terror attack in Mumbai, which was co-ordinated with cellphones, satellite phones and Internet calls.

The Indian government has said RIM is exploring the possibility of installing a server in India, as part of ongoing negotiations that narrowly avoided a ban on its services on Aug. 31. One possible compromise could be to set up a BlackBerry Messenger server in India for instant messaging, but keep key corporate enterprise email servers abroad.

BlackBerry is eager to convince corporate users that its enterprise email will remain the gold standard for security, despite pressure from governments in Asia and the Middle East, which fear super-encrypted communications could be abused by militants.

RIM co-chief executive Jim Balsillie has said RIM expects to resolve its security concerns with countries such as the United Arab Emirates and India, which want access to encrypted data on the devices.

But he has also repeatedly said that RIM doesn't have access to the encrypted data. "RIM simply has no ability to read the encrypted information," Balsillie told a recent conference call with financial analysts. "We have made it clear we are respectful of government needs and fully co-operative to comply with lawful requirements on an industry standards basis."