South Africa’s Deputy Minister for Communication, Mr Obed Bapela, announced that the government would consider requesting for the decryption of Blackberry messaging service to help in tracking criminals. Now the minister of communications, Radhakrishna “Roy” Padayachie has clarified that the ministry has no intention to regulate or legislate against Blackberry messenger services (BBM).
The government is however ready to work with Research In Motion in preventing the abuse of the encrypted messenger services.
The full statement reads;
Following the announcement made by Communications Deputy Minister, Mr. Obed Bapela, about the South African government joining in the call to regulate Research In Motion’s BlackBerry Messenger service, Minister of Communications, Mr. Roy Padayachie, wishes to issue the following clarifying statement on the matter.
Mr. Roy Padayachie aligns himself with the statement issued by the Minister of Justice, Mr. Jeff Radebe, which states that Government has no intention to regulate or legislate against BlackBerry Encryption messenger services (BBM).The Government is still working on a policy statement on Cyber matters, which will review current regulatory and Legislative instruments with respect to cyberspace matters.
The Minister however, welcomes the willingness of Research In Motion(RIM) to work closely with Government to prevent the abuse of the encrypted messenger services by criminals for unlawful purposes. Government has no intention to intercede or interfere with the privacy of communications between private citizens for lawful purposes.
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