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South Africa Wants Access to Encrypted BlackBerry Messages
Published on:
South Africa's Deputy Communications Minister Obed Bapela has called for legislation granting the police the ability to demand access to encrypted messages sent over the BlackBerry Messaging platform (BBM).
BBM had become so popular in South Africa that they now posed a security risk that the government "must address with urgency", he told the annual Southern Africa Telecommunications Networks and Applications Conference (Satnac).
"There is evidence that criminal are now using BBM to plan and execute crime. We want to review BBM, like (they did) in the UK and Saudi Arabia," he added.
However, the country already has wiretapping legislation in place -- the Regulation of Interception of Communication Act -- that would enable the police to seek access to the messages. That same law also requires that all SIM cards are registered with their users, making tracing the senders even easier.
Mr Bapela confirmed that he had not discussed the matter with Research in Motion before making his speech.
On the web: BusinessDay
Tags: [blackberry] [bbm] [South Africa]
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