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A woman walks past a Blackberry advertisement in Mumbai earlier this month.DANISH SIDDIQUI

In its dispute with the government of India, Research In Motion is betting there's safety in numbers.

With only five days left to reach an agreement before the country bans its flagship services, the BlackBerry maker is reaching out with a last-minute compromise that would allow it to continue operating in one of the world's fastest growing wireless markets - a key piece of RIM's international expansion strategy.

The offer: RIM would lead an "industry forum" of technology and communications players to work with the Indian government. The goal would be to help come up with policies that balance what the government wants - easier access to encrypted messages to aid law enforcement - with what RIM and its competitors need: the ability to assure customers that their e-mail and data are secure.

The move, which India seems not to have accepted, comes ahead of an Aug. 31 deadline to grant India's security establishment access to secure BlackBerry e-mail and messaging services. Executives at the Waterloo, Ont., company appear to be hoping they can expand the focus of overseas governments beyond RIM to other telecommunications companies. They are also making the argument that banning such services would hamper India's economic development.

But whether or not the gambit defuses the tense standoff with India, it is unlikely to allay the growing concerns of anxious governments around the world as wireless and Internet technologies continue to rapidly evolve.

RIM, which needs to expand overseas in the face of competitive pressures in North America, said in a statement that it is "extending an offer to the Government of India whereby RIM would lead an industry forum focused on supporting the lawful access needs of law enforcement agencies while preserving the legitimate information security needs of corporations and other organizations in India."

At issue is RIM's encrypted service for business clients, which scramble data leaving the device and then moves the data through RIM's own servers, where the company says neither national security agencies nor RIM itself can access the information. The privacy of communications on that system is a key selling point for businesses, and a major reason why the BlackBerry has gained huge market share in the corporate sector.

RIM has repeatedly said that when it comes to providing government agencies with access to data, it does not play favourites. However, it is negotiating, for instance with Saudi Arabia, where it has reportedly agreed to locate a server in that country that would allow some sort of access to its wireless communications.

RIM also tried to frame the looming ban as damaging India's image as a safe and rational place to do business. "Banning such strong encryption-based information and communications services would severely limit the effectiveness and productivity of India's corporations," RIM said in the release.

Ronald Deibert, a University of Toronto professor who advises governments on Internet security issues, said RIM's tactic of trying to include others in the discussion mimics the approach taken by Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc., which both ran into privacy and human rights concerns in China. This helped create the Global Network Initiative (it includes Microsoft Corp.), which has drafted principles for dealing with government pressure.

Colin Gillis, a senior technology analyst with BGC Financial in New York, said it's wise for technology companies to try and broaden government's focus, "because then it's like, 'What are you going to do? Shut down all smart phone usage?' "

Mr. Gillis added that advances in technology have always outpaced government regulation and that the problem will only increase as more services such as RIM's are hosted beyond a state's borders. "There are government risks to these technology business models," he said. "This is more of a beginning to the jurisdictional issues than the end."





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