Indian government turns security spotlight on Skype and Google

The government of India has now turned its attentions to Skype and Google regarding security concerns, as it hinted it would in meetings three weeks ago.

This comes after a ban on BlackBerry messaging services was threatened, due to the government being unable to monitor these communications, and considering this a national security threat.

The BlackBerry ban was due to be imposed yesterday, but was avoided at the last minute, with certain proposals for “lawful access” to BlackBerry communications tentatively agreed between the two parties, and Rim given two months to fully sort out its act to the Indian government’s satisfaction.

Now it seems that Google and Skype will be required to set up servers in the country and give the government the ability to monitor their net data (such as Gmail), a high-ranking interior ministry official told The Times of India.

How Google will respond to this one should be interesting, as failure to comply with such a move could potentially mean facing a ban in the country, as Rim did.