India eyes Google, Skype in security probe

INDIA may ask Google and Skype for greater access to encrypted information once it resolves security concerns with BlackBerrys, now under threat of a ban.

The 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, which were coordinated with satellite and mobile phones, helped prompt a sweeping security review of telecommunications ahead of the Commonwealth Games – a major sporting event to be held in New Delhi in Oct.

Some analysts say more anonymous technologies – like the basic Nokia phones used by 10 gunmen who rampaged through Mumbai in November 2008, leaving 166 dead – and Gmail are more likely to be used to plan terror attacks than BlackBerry devices, which require reliable identity proof and contact information.