Worried about the ability of its security agencies to snoop on an increasing number of communication mediums, the Indian Department of Telecom (DoT) wants to compel a number of companies to ensure that data passing through their networks be made available to the government in unencrypted form.

Specifically, RIM (NASDAQ: RIMM) and Skype have been singled out and warned to either allow lawful, real-time interception or be blocked or banned within 15 days, according to an internal government note obtained by Hindu Business. That's not all. Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) could also be called in next to ensure that its Gmail web service be made accessible in a similar fashion.

Of course, it is not clear if the DoT will follow-through on its threat; a previous ruckus raised against the use of BlackBerry smartphones a couple of years earlier was eventually shelved. Where the current report is concerned, the Indian telecommunications ministry was unable to comment when contacted by the AFP.

Then again, the government has been restricting imports of Chinese telecom equipment for fear of embedded spyware, so it might not be too far-fetched of an idea to ban the BlackBerry smartphones and Skype as well.

Of course, it is important to note that the paranoia over an inability to intercept communications is not completely unjustified. India has witnessed a fair number of extremely violent attacks by heavily armed terrorists or insurgents over the years. For example, Maoist rebels were blamed for a train derailment that killed 150 people just last month.

The question though, is whether coercing private companies to open their networks to the government is the way forward. 

For more on this story:
- check out this article at The Inquirer
- check out this article at MarketWatch
- check out this article at AFP

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