Diplomacy at its best ?

I was appalled by reading this article. It seems India is now begging to the world not to sell arms to Pakistan. Is this the so called "diplomatic offensive" taken up by the Govt of India???

I fail to understand why we are hesitating to stamp our authority on the World. More shocking is the fact that we are pleading to countries like Ukraine and Germany!!!! Why dont we just declare that anybody who deals with Pakistan is not welcome in India anymore - no deals, no FDI, no more subsidies etc
In the current economic scenario the world needs India more than India needing the world...
Remember Germany is hoping that its sluggish auto sales would be offset by good sales in India n China, whats the point in pleading them? just say You can either have your cars in India or your submarines in Pakistan!
And as far as Ukraine is considered, it is already under a lot of stress from Russia for the gas pipelines, well we can always ask our good old friend to strike a better deal for us.

It is a well known fact that the world would choose India over Pakistan anyday.. so why not do it now

Pakistan dares India, should we strike?

The current government in India is led by ‘Babus’! Pakistan understands that and is having fun at our expense. Can you imagine Pakistan behaving this way if Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister? I would seriously doubt if they would have the courage to strike India should L K Advani become the next Prime Minister. Dr Manmohan Singh reminds me of the kid in a class who is beaten every day by the bully of the class and he goes to the principal complaining. We have heard a line from India for the past 10 years, “We are an emerging power”! If this is the way a rising power behaves, what would be the condition if it was not an emerging power? I dread to think! For starters, Manmohan Singh should take the ‘danda’ from the Bombay Police and give them AK-47 instead. He should them meet with the President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari and put the ‘danda’ up where it belongs!

There is something else the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh can do, he can buy a box of ‘Pacifiers’ on sale and distribute 11 of them to his cabinet, especially Pranab Mukherjee, and put the twelfth in his own mouth. His government talks a lot but does very little. Can you imagine if our government was not making empty threats but was busy in very quiet diplomacy and was seen preparing for the war? Shri Zardari would be washing his ‘crap’ every morning! We believe in non-violence but a little suspense could have the Pakistan Military “shitting in their pants”. Iraq war has taught us that military option is not always wise or productive. India has plenty of options available internally as well as on the world-stage. Depending on the goodwill of the United States is not one of them. We have atleast 120 Indian ambassadors working around the world, 20% of these should be retired or senior defense officials.

Aggressive diplomacy backed by credible defense posture could achieve lot more than empty bluster. Pakistan has found a cheap method of rattling India’s cage every now and then. We have not yet figured out how to respond. Indians are smart and resourceful people. If only we could export our ‘Babus’ to Pakistan, we would have a paralyzed neighbour. Our diplomats (IFS and IAS officers) are not really equipped to deal with international diplomacy in this 21st century. A six week course at an American University is not going to change their DNA. These are difficult changes that India would have to make some day. We must also re-examine our attitude towards out defense personnel. The sixth pay commission report is an insult to our officers and undermines our national security. Besides bringing their pay scales on par with their civilian counter-parts, their ranks must be up-graded to world standards.

We get what we deserve!!!

This is old news, but it is worth a read today.

Roughly 12 hours after terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners in order to perpetrate unprecedented attacks on America, President George W Bush addressed the nation at 8.30 pm in a televised statement from the White House:

'Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts. The victims were in airplanes, or in their offices; secretaries, businessmen and women, military and federal workers; moms and dads, friends and neighbours. Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror. The search is underway for those who are behind these evil acts. I've directed the full resources of our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsible and to bring them to justice. We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbour them.'

...Then, with the world watching, he stood atop a mound of World Trade Centre rubble, a bullhorn in hand, and proclaimed:

'I want you all to know that America today is on bended knee in prayer for the people whose lives were lost here, for the workers who work here, for the families who mourn. This nation stands with the good people of New York City, and New Jersey and Connecticut, as we mourn the loss of thousands of our citizens. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.' [rediff]

One and a half month after Mumbai's massacre, Pakistan is running circles around India even as fresh terrorists are hiding, escaping, attacking in the country, and preparing for more attacks after being trained in Pakistan.

We deserve these attacks and more as we show "restraint" and get slapped and kicked in the bargain...

The rise and fall of Chrome!

In a Computerworld report that summarizes recent Net Applications data, interest in Google Chrome has now died down to a standstill. Most of the people still downloading it are either night owls or from countries outside of the US, such as China, because the only activity is at night.Chrome searches have now fallen in line with Firefox. This, after a week or hype and unforeseen inmade it seem like Google was going to a) take over the browser market b) usher in the end the OS as we know it and c) probably make Google really rich.

It turns out that Chrome is just another fast browser without any really compelling features that will make people switch once and for all. It may even just be merely a developer tool and not a real browser at all. Yet, there are a few things that have contributed to the flat-lining interest, issues that Google could still fix if they get busy, well - today or sooner.

1. Chrome is relatively stable, but minor irritants such as the undo bug make you wonder why you are using it. Chrome is not like a low-level beta app that sort of works and where you put up with bugs because it is so new and innovative. Instead, a browser is the main tool we all use every day, and it better work - we have no patience for buggy browsers like IE.

2. Google has not released an obvious Chrome 1.1 update yet to address bugs, although they have released point upgrades and you can get new versions through a developer program. Huh? A developer program? In Internet time, it has been eons since Chrome was released, and no one wants to figure out how a developer program works just to get a more stable version.

3. There were early concerns over how Google was going to use your private data. They fixed the problem, but a minor glitch at the launch of a social networking site like Lively is nothing compared to a minor glitch with a browser. Everything is more critical and higher profile.

4. Google tends to use very simple anchor pages for their products, but it also makes people think the product is under supported. I'm sure there is a Chrome support forum; the issue is that it is not easy to find and that makes the average user nervous. Are they serious about Chrome? Or was it just an internal browser they used for testing that runs fast and decided to release it publicly? Wait, that's exactly what it is.

5. As Opera has learned, you have to keep the momentum going. Google obviously move don quickly to hype Android and will be in Android mode for some time. Here's the reality check: Google is not Microsoft. They do not have several hundred people working on one product at a time. It's more like a few people or maybe 50. No one knows for sure except Google, but at least on the outside Chrome still seems like an internal project and not a serious product.

6. I wonder where Google can really go with Chrome. For starters, you can't really put advertising on the browser wrapping and on the pages as well. You can tie a search box to advertising, but they already do that with Firefox. It's kind of too late to really beef up the features, and that has never been the goal of Google anyway. Look at Gmail - it is about as barebones as you can get - it runs much faster than Hotmail but has nowhere near as many features. That minimalistic concept works okay with Web software, not as well when it comes to a browser.

7. It's interesting to note that Android is really the first Google product you will be able to hold in your hands - you can literally touch the interface. More importantly, it will be a product you buy - for $180 from T-Mobile. (Google does make an enterprise search appliance but that doesn't really count.) Everything else, including Chrome, is free and in persistent beta.

8. (Updated) Here's one last major issue with Chrome: compatability. I just tried watching a Netflix streaming movie and of course Chrome is not supported. It doesn't work with Movielink or Cinemanow, either. I can imagine that these kinds of sites have no plans to support Chrome, especially when many of them just started supporting Firefox or are still working on Firefox support. As with any software, Web site operators must consider the field: which browser is the most popular?

So will Chrome stick around for years? Probably. But my opinion today is that it rose to quick prominence and then died out just as quickly. It may never come back.

I can see me loving nobody but you, for all my life

Have you been confused before, been depressed and angry at the same time? Your feelings for her, did it ever fade away. Have you seen yourself and her parting ways and walking away from each other? Have you even walked in those lonely roads, longing to be able to hold her again?

People speak less about their love when it is going good, but they speak so many things to so many people at once when it is going bad. Speaking at a really basic idiotic laymen terms, that is.

But you, I can see me loving nobody but you, for all my life.

So happy together…

Did Sam Manekshaw fight wrong enemies?

ONLY TWO Army appointments have been made by the Government of India since independence in 1947, in the rank of Field Marshal of the Indian Army. Field Marshal SHFJ Manekshaw was the first to be honoured. It was essentially in recognition of his leadership during the 1971 India-Pakistan war that dismembered the adversary and created Bangladesh. The government led by Indira Gandhi, by far the biggest beneficiary of the war, made the appointment in 1973. His senior KM Cariappa, who preceded him by 15 years, was appointed as Field Marshal only in 1983, long after his retirement.

“In a rare gesture, the government took a decision to give a state funeral,” beamed minister of defence (MoD) AK Antony when Manekshaw breathed his last at the age of 94 on June 27. There can be no controversy – whether in India, Bangladesh or even Pakistan – about giving a state funeral to the legendary soldier. Most people, particularly in the armed forces, however, could not fathom what was so rare about the ’gesture’. State honours to a real war hero is something that is taken for granted in countries with some self-respect left!

The ’gesture’ of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, in reality, was one of shaming the great hero. For, the honourable MoD did not find it prudent to waste his precious time by being present ceremonially. It was not that the senile politician, exhausted due to decades of politicking to become a Central minister, was too sick to stand the strain. (He had recently fainted during a ceremonial occasion but had recovered).

Anyway, the low profile Congress loyalist is not taken seriously even by his colleagues. Last year, the defence minister sheepishly pleaded in the Parliament that his colleague in charge of civil aviation would not exempt Service chiefs from being frisked at the airports. The privilege of exemption is reserved only for the ones chosen by god to lead the country. That included Robert Vadra, the non-descript son-in-law of Sonia Gandhi, the Congress Party chief who could not even be a member of the government openly! A colonel recalled to a media person, “It’s only after the media took up this issue that the embarrassing matter was resolved.”

Anthony deputed a junior minister Pallam Raju, who even more low-profile than himself, to represent him at the ceremony. The minister of state (MoS) happened to be highest dignitary representing the government of India at the funeral of the country’s first Field Marshal! When pointedly asked about the poor representation at the funeral in Wellington, Anthony pretended as if he did not hear the question.

President Pratibha Patil, the supreme commander of the armed forces and the constitutional head of the country, was apparently busy in Maharashtra. After all, elections are round the corner and she is known to be loyal more to Sonia Gandhi and Nehru dynasty than anything else. Nobody dared to disturb the VVIP jet, kept in ’stand-by’ mode to cater to her emergency needs! The Prime Minister, of course was defending his master from attack from Left Front allies.

In the bizarre ’state honour’, none of the Service chiefs attended the funeral. A rear admiral of the Indian Navy and an air marshal of the Indian Air Force were asked to register the ’rare honour’ to the departed Field Marshal. Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sureesh Mehta and Air Chief Marshal FH Major were very busy at their headquarters, perhaps planning top level defence strategies. Army chief General Deepak Kapoor, away in Russia on tour, was represented by vice chief Lt-Gen ML Naidu, who took a civilian flight from Delhi.

A Brigadier put the insult in perspective: “We, as a nation, simply don’t respect or remember our heroes. Cricketing ones are honoured even after 25 years of winning a world cup; soldiering ones are forgotten promptly after the war is over. The nation turns to the armed forces only in times of emergency!”

The adulation of the Field Marshal is however not without controversies. Most people in the neighbourhood and many in India feel that the 1971 war was a diplomatic and economic disaster for India. Particularly the ones to think with their heads, who know what cost had to be paid by the common man in the country for the feat, point out that it only earned yet another adversary in the region. The war, that definitely helped the then Prime Minister to acquire a lot of clout, has not enhanced the standing of India as a responsible big brother. Bangladesh has never felt obliged to India for its creation and is suspicious of New Delhi, which did employ covert actions before the war. In fact, most of its votes in the international arena have been cast in the ’other’ direction.

It would be worth recalling the most plausible explanation doing the rounds as to why Indira Gandhi took the decision in January 1977 that proved suicidal for her absolute rule. Most politicians, bureaucrats and judges were meekly crawling when asked to kneel before the tyrant and her son Sanjay. The Congress president even declared shamelessly, “India is Indira.” Several people in the know have confirmed that Indira feared that Field Marshall Sam Manekshaw, then Chief of Army Staff, threatened to depose her if she did not immediately release all political prisoners and call elections.

The anti-tyranny movement warned Indians that the March 1977 elections might be their last chance to choose between democracy and dictatorship. Though Manekshaw denied any such thing, there could be no other possible explanation. But, no one can deny that most truly democratic governments in the world are set up by military chiefs. With that considered, perhaps Manekshaw fought the wrong enemies!

RapidShare - No longer shared!!!

I’m trying to download a file from the evil Rapidshare (who make you wait about 2 painful minutes before giving you the file) and just after the wait time is over, I get a Captcha looking like this:

WTF man? I mean, does it really need to be this hard? Are you telling me that it has come down to us hiding domestic animals in our captcha characters in order to hold off bots? Plus, there are only 3 “letters” in that image but its asking for four.

Firefox 3 Sets Download 'Record' - Are You Using It?

Firefox has already surpassed the 5 million download mark it set out to meet in its first 24 hours. As I write this, the browser just passed the 8 million download mark for its version 3.0 software, and with over 6800 downloads per minute (and rising) is on track to do 9 million or more. Whether that's a record is hard to say, but it's very impressive nonetheless. Are you using Firefox 3? Do you plan to upgrade?

You can watch the live count as it streams in from Mozilla's raw server logs, and according to the download day page, the majority of downloads have come from the US. Despite some hiccups yesterday, Firefox had no problem setting the record (though no one really seems to know if there was any old mark to break -- so anything might have been a record with Guinness watching).

Net Applications has been tracking the uptake of Firefox 3 since yesterday morning, and it is now at around 4.5% -- not bad for its first 24 hours. Firefox on the whole is closing in on 20% market share and is higher among tech savvy crowds (over 50% on this blog, for example). That 4.5% of Firefox web browser users are already using version 3 indicates that about 25% of its user base has upgraded overnight -- that's very impressive.

If you're still on the fence about upgrading, check out my overview of FF3.

Why Should You download Firefiox 3 Right Now!!!

Firefox 3 — available for download from Tuesday onwards — is the culmination of a two-year quest to build the best browser ever. And while it’s not perfect, it comes pretty close.

The open-source web browser is the fastest and most secure version of Firefox yet. Significant improvements have been made to the way it uses your computer’s resources, so the memory leaks and other performance problems found in Firefox 2 have been stamped out. Text and image rendering have also been improved, and the underlying code for Gecko, the engine that draws the actual web pages on the screen, has been updated. There are also heaps of useful features that have been added for both power users and newcomers alike.

It’s faster than Microsoft Internet Explorer, but it’s not the fastest browser in the world — depending on who you ask, either Safari on the Mac or Opera 9.5 claims that crown. Firefox 3 is also incomplete by design — users can customize the browser, adding additional bells and whistles through downloadable extensions.

Here’s why I think Firefox 3 is one of the most kick-ass software releases of 2008.

History, bookmarks and discovery

The most significant enhancement to Firefox 3 is also the most subtle. It’s the location bar, the text field at the top of the window where you enter the web address of your desired destination. Once a purely pedestrian feature, the location bar in Firefox 3 has been juiced up to the point where it is now central to the browsing experience.

Start typing a URL and the window leaps to your aid, searching the page titles and URLs in your browsing history and offering suggestions for the page you’re most likely looking for. Searches are instantaneous and happen as you type. Continue typing and your searches get narrower. Pick a URL from the list and Firefox will remember your choice. The next time you type that same term, your previous choice will appear near the top of the list, if not at the very top.

Early testers of Firefox 3 loved this new feature so much, they nicknamed it the “Awesome Bar.”

Much in the way Gmail’s powerful search box has replaced the old categorization paradigm of menus and folders for sorting and finding old e-mail messages, the Awesome Bar has largely replaced the need for a traditional bookmark filing system. Still, many users will continue to prefer the granular control and long term security afforded by a folder-based bookmark system. These users have not been ignored. With Firefox 3’s new bookmark manager, you can mark your favorite sites by “starring” them — click on the blue star in the URL bar and the page is automatically branded a favorite. Once favorited, bookmarks can be tagged and sorted into folders. You can also set up smart bookmark folders to display your most-visited sites, recently-favorited links or specific tags — just like similar smart playlists in iTunes.

Speed and performance

One of the biggest gripes about the previous version of Firefox was its often dreadful performance record. The browser grew so sluggish and unresponsive after a few hours of surfing that it became almost entirely unusable. The explosion of resource-sucking web applications over the last two years only made the problem worse. Wired.com addressed this stumbling block in an article in May of last year. At the time, Mozilla (the organization that makes Firefox) offered excuses ranging from outdated code to users running too many add-ons.Whatever the wrinkles, they have been ironed out in the new release.

Security

Firefox’s user base has traditionally been made up by the power users of the web’s elite — developers, software geeks and early adopters. But as the popularity of the browser has grown, it’s attracted casual users who tend to be less net-savvy and therefore more prone to attacks by phishing sites, malware and scripting attacks. This shift has prompted Mozilla to raise the bar on Firefox’s default security measures.

Firefox 3 introduces a new visual language to the browser security game. The subtle tinting and the tiny padlock icon in the location bar denoting a site’s safety are being phased out in favor of stark iconography and clearly defined, color-coded cues. Security warnings come in the form of the passport officer symbol used in international airport terminals worldwide. He shows up as a different color based on the level of security of the site you’re dealing with, and that color is matched by the large button on the left end of the location bar.

Verified, secure sites make the button glow green. Sites with very basic identity information show up as blue, and unverified sites show up as the default gray. Click on the color-coded button and you can see how often you’ve visited the website (if at all), information about the company that owns it and the link to its identity certificate.

Sites with invalid identity certificates show a yellow passport officer and an on-screen warning. Visit a known phishing or malware website and the page is blocked from loading, with a red passport officer and an explanation being shown instead. The list of known attack sites is maintained by the community and updated regularly.

Native look and feel

It’s a small enhancement, but it’s a noticeable one that many users will welcome. Older versions of Firefox were dressed in the same gray clothes no matter which operating system you ran. In Firefox 3, each OS gets its own skin for the browser. Mac users will see buttons, scrollbars and tabs that finally look not just “Macish” but entirely Mac-native. The same goes for a Windows XP version with green buttons and a Vista version with that OS’s glowing blue appointments. Ubuntu users even get a version that’s, appropriately, boxy and orange.

Also, on the major OSes at least, the back button is larger. Mozilla ran its own user tests and found that most people miss the back button with their mice. So, the team made it about 50% bigger.

A better fit for your workflow

For advanced web users, especially those who favor webapps like Gmail or Yahoo mail over their desktop counterparts like Outlook, Firefox 3 provides a more seamless integration into their modern workflow.

Application-specific links on web pages can be set to trigger webapps. For example, you can set up the browser so that clicking on a mailto link opens up in Yahoo Mail rather than in Outlook, or that a calendar event gets added to Google Calendar instead of iCal. This is an extension of what we saw when Firefox 2 asked you how you like to read your RSS feeds — in a desktop app, with Live Bookmarks or in an online tool like Bloglines or Google Reader.

There’s also support for running your webapps off-line. If you go through a quick set up procedure, you can answer messages in Gmail and work on a document in an online word processor, then sync up later when your net access is restored.

Finally, search is everywhere in Firefox 3. Not only are your bookmarks accessible directly from the location bar, but recent downloads and Firefox’s add-on library now have a search box. Most web-based tools use search as an essential component, and it’s because of this emphasis on dynamic search capability that Firefox 3 feels much more in tune with the way we expect our applications to behave on today’s web.

So go ahead - break free from the ubiquitous 'Internet Explorer', download the FireFox and enjoy surfing.

The blackberry imbroglio

Canadian smart phone maker RIM’s whimper that the Communications Ministry was targeting it selectively has opened a Pandora’s box full of complicated issues that India’s Department of Telecom (DoT) has no answers for.

RIM, which makes the BlackBerry smart phone, and has about 1,15,000 customers in India, mostly corporate or professionals, has argued that if its services were in violation of India’s security guidelines, then DoT should also look into similar offerings of at least four other players.

While this may be the last line of defence by RIM, which has been under the country’s security agencies fire and has been pushed to the corner with little negotiating options, the Canadian company’s argument has highlighted the larger picture, which DoT has been trying to brush under the carpet.

The proposed solution by DoT and security agencies are — set up a server in India and channel all data traffic originating from Indian mobile networks to these servers; RIM and operators like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Reliance Communications that provide this service create a mirror image of all emails and data sent on these devices in India and save these images for at least six months; and reduce encryption code to less than 40-bit.

It is essential to understand that the security concerns are only related to BlackBerry Enterprise Solutions (BES), which are largely used by corporates. The BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS), which is sold to individual customers, has very little security facilities and is not encrypted. At the same time, it is also important to note that the arguments presented by both sides – DoT and RIM – have several flaws, and any solution to the ongoing imbroglio will have to address each of these issues.

First is the issue of encryption. It is no secret that India’s security agencies have been unable to keep pace with the march of technology. But punishing RIM for the failure of Indian agencies to anticipate technological developments reflects poorly on the government here. While DoT may be demanding that RIM reduce encryption standards to 40 bits, it comes at the cost of the customers who use this service.

A simple indicator of this is that globally, most countries stipulate that the Internet service providers (ISP) ensure a minimum of 128-bit encryption before any financial transaction can be made online. Many industry experts accept that 40-bit encryption standards may turn back the clock on the internet emerging as a platform for commerce in India and will also give a free run to hackers.

In fact, DoT’s double standards on the issue stand exposed as almost all commercial portals in India, some of which are owned by government departments such as the Railways, Indian Airlines, telecom and bank PSUs, offer services at the 128-bit encryption standards.

This also brings into question the ultra cheap Internet telephony services offered by Skype and other such global majors where the encryption standards are well above 40 bits. Considering that more Indians use Internet telephony than they use BlackBerry services, DoT must first explain why only these services of RIM are considered a security threat.

The second issue relates to the fact that other handset majors in India, including Nokia and Motorola and software players such as Microsoft and Seven Networks, offer similar email solutions on mobile handsets. Consider what RIM said in a presentation to DoT: “In addition to BlackBerry, four other mobile e-mail solutions in market in India use comparable encryption levels — Windows Mobile ActiveSync, Nokia Intellisync, Motorola Good and Seven Networks. Furthermore, several other technologies widely used in India use strong encryption to secure communications over the Internet.

These include Web browser, WAO 2.0 mobile browser software, IIPSec VPN, PGP and SMIME. All these technologies are widely available and used throughout India. Functionally, all of these solutions use encryption similar to BlackBerry. Thus, focusing on BlackBerry alone will not solve any security concerns over encryption.” The issue assumes importance considering that tens of thousands of customers in India use Motorola Good for services such as RSS news feeds and customised email alerts and filters.

Ditto for the solutions provided by Seven Networks, which offers real-time access to work and personal information, including email, calendar, corporate directories, personal contacts and documents. Windows Mobile e-mail solutions are available on several high-end handsets and PDAs sold in the country such as HTC Touch, O2, iPAQ and even on some handsets from Samsung and Motorola.

Finnish handset major Nokia on its website states that its Nokia Intellisync wireless email solutions support a wide range of mobile devices and platforms, including Palm, Pocket PC, Windows Mobile Smartphone, Symbian, and IMAP client. Therefore, if DoT were to ask operators to discontinue BlackBerry services, the government in the next stage may be forced to extend similar orders on other players offering similar solutions.

On the other hand, RIM too is at fault on several fronts. Government officials here say that the Canadian company’s argument that it did not possess the encryption keys and the company’s public stance that it would “simply be unable to accommodate” any such request from the India government does not have any merit.

Instead, DoT has correctly pointed out that since RIM’s BlackBerry service meets the provisions of US Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, 1994 (CALEA) regulations, all BlackBerry data traffic originating on Indian mobile networks can be tracked electronically by CALEA sleuths in the Federal Communications Commission. The officials added that the US would not been able to monitor this data unless RIM had opened its networks to American agencies.

In response to DoT’s request to set up servers in India, RIM in an update to its customers said: “The location of data centres and the customer’s choice of wireless network are irrelevant factors from a security perspective since end-to-end encryption is utilised.” Additionally, RIM in its presentation to DoT also said that all data that flows through its data centres is encrypted to protect it from unlawful hacking or interception, while adding: “Routing it through data centres in India will not make it any more decipherable.”

Even if RIM’s argument deserves consideration, it cannot be denied that the company is in violation of several Indian laws. Under Indian regulations, the control of remote access, i.e. activation, transfer of data, termination etc., shall be within the country and not at a remote location abroad. Also, the government agency should be given all support to record the transactions for online monitoring.

Additionally, DoT on its part is also right in demanding a solution from RIM since Indian regulations clearly state that suitable technical device should be made available at Indian end to the designated security agency/licensor for monitoring purposes