While India’s 800,000 BlackBerry users struggle to figure out what the government wants and what its Canadian developer Research in Motion (RIM) has featured in these devices, here are some answers:

Q: What are BlackBerry services? Which aren’t?

A: Mobile push-email and messenger. RIM delivers these two services through mobile operators, such as Airtel and Reliance Communications. All other services you use on your BlackBerry handset, such as SMS, internet access or phone calls, are directly from the mobile operator, and are not BlackBerry services. Push email is so called because mail is pushed out to your handset as soon as it is received without your needing to download email periodically.

Q: What does India’s government want?

A: To intercept email and instant messages sent via BlackBerry, just as it can tap a phone. When it suspects someone of perpetrating a crime, it wants to be able to read, armed with a specific written order, any encrypted email sent on BlackBerry. The government can order interception of messages, under Section 5 of the Indian Telegraph Act,1885, only with a written order, granted only when required to prevent a major offense involving national security or terrorism. Economic offenses were once covered, but withdrawn in 1999 by a Supreme Court order.

Q: Why is BlackBerry mail encrypted?

A: Most email systems, including Gmail, use encryption. Enterprises don’t trust public email systems for business data; so they use their own secure, firewalled systems. Now, when they need to use a mobile push-email system, they want to be certain that no third party can read the mail, not even the email provider. That is BlackBerry’s USP: Mail so secure that RIM itself cannot read it.

Q: What’s BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) and does the government have access to it?

A: BIS is the lighter flavour of RIM’s two email services. Meant for individuals, it uses weaker encryption. BIS users buy convenience more than ironclad security. Airtel or Vodafone “pipes” the encrypted mail from your handset to RIM, which then decrypts it and sends it out, to the recipient. So RIM “can” let investigative agencies read such mail, and India now has an agreement for BIS access.

Q: Is BlackBerry Enterprise Service (BES) then the only problem?

A: Can RIM really not “access” that?

Q: BES is RIM’s flagship product, designed to be so secure that not even RIM can read mail on it. It requires BES server software in the user company’s network. Email is encrypted on the BlackBerry, using a generated key shared only between the handset and the BES server. Such mail goes out via, say, Airtel, to RIM in Canada, and back to the company’s BES, staying encrypted all the way with a key that only that enterprise knows. Then it’s decrypted, within the enterprise, and moved to the email server. If the mail is to someone outside the company, it is sent out – decrypted – by the company’s mailserver. RIM itself does not have the key to “crack open” BES encrypted mail. That is the published design. Does RIM have a secret backdoor? One really does not know.

Q: Then how can government agencies access such mail, on a terror threat?

A: By going to the enterprise where the suspected terrorist is working. That company, which runs the BES, does not even need to decrypt the mail…for all mail is sitting within its own servers, or in its backups.

Q: Is the BlackBerry a terrorist’s choice of communication tool?

A: No. The BES-user is working in a company. Any mail he sends is not only traceable, but also stored and backed up. As for BIS, that is in RIM’s control: so access is easier for government agencies. The smarter terrorist would go to a cybercafe, and use a Gmail or Yahoo mail account. He’d simply read and save mail in draft mode without sending mail. So there’s nothing to intercept. Then there’s fileshare: sites like YouSendIt, where he can keep encrypted files – leaving almost no trace, unlike with a BES mail.

Q: How about Messenger?

A: BlackBerry popular instant messenger uses a weaker encryption than BES. And RIM has access to the keys used — which is why it can promise Saudi Arabia and India access. And while BlackBerry Messenger can indeed be used for real-time chat during a terror attack, so can regular, cheap cellphones, as they were during 26/11. The answer to both is part of anti-terror standard operating procedure: Cellphone jammers.

Q: Is such strong encryption legally allowed? Doesn’t India have any restrictions?

A: A creaky old law says you can’t use encryption greater than 40 bits in India without special permission, which includes depositing the key with the authorities. Now, the weakest encryption possible in a modern web browser is 40 bits and 128-bit is the most common. But then, way back in 2001, the Reserve Bank of BI recommended 128-bit encryption as the “minimum level of security” for online transactions. The recent 3G auctions were conducted using 3,000-bit technology. All in violation of Indian law!

IANS

But these things do not disturb him, whether teachers protest for it or students oppose it. After all, he is ready to say the university ‘Good Bye’ in next few days. After that, neither the students nor their problems will be his concerns.
(Chandan Sharma can be contacted at editorial@fachcha.com)

IVF or In-vitro fertilisation is a process by which egg cells are fertilised by sperm outside the womb.

Researchers relied on more than 100 spare embryos left over from treatment at fertility clinics to establish several embryonic stem cell “lines”, reports the Telegraph.

One of them, known as RC-7, was converted into blood stem cells before they were transformed into red cells containing haemoglobin – the oxygen-carrying pigment.

Scientists averred that the objective was to find cells genetically programmed to develop into the O-negative blood group, one of the rarest groups.

This is the universal donor group whose blood can be transfused into anyone without fear of tissue rejection but is only found in seven percent of the population.

According to the researchers, the aim of the project is to establish a manufacturing process to produce more than two million pints a year. A pint is 473 ml.

The research could potentially revolutionise medicine by ending the need to rely on volunteers to provide blood for transfusions.

The synthetic version would also be guaranteed free of infections. The first clinical trial of synthetic blood made from embryonic stem cells could begin within five years. (IANS)

Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that same-sex marriages will be legal in California from Aug 18.

Walker Aug 4 overturned California’s ban on same-sex marriage, saying that the voter-approved restriction violated the highest law of the land, the US Constitution.

That ruling by Walker overturned a 2009 ruling by the California Supreme Court, which had upheld a statewide ballot proposition in 2008 that reserved marriage for two people of the opposite sex.

In his decision last week, the judge had ordered an injunction against enforcement of the Proposition 8 ballot item, but issued a temporary stay until he could decide whether to suspend his ruling while it was being appealed.

The ruling makes California only the sixth state in the US to permit gay marriage. The others are Connecticut, Massachusetts, Iowa, Maine and Vermont. It will have an even bigger effect on the approximately 30 of the 50 US states that have clauses in their constitutions that define marriage as only between one man and one woman.

In a 136-page ruling last week, Walker said that the ballot measure “prevents California from fulfilling its constitutional obligation to provide marriages on an equal basis.”

The constitutional right to marry, Walker said, “protects an individual’s choice of marital partner regardless of gender.” He added that domestic partnerships in California, available to same-sex couples, are a “substitute and inferior institution” that lack the social meaning and cultural status of marriage.

He also observed that children who grow up in same-sex marriages are as well adjusted as those from heterosexual relationships.

The gay marriage issue has been unsettled for years in California, where the top state court had given the green light to same sex marriage in May 2008, only to have 52 percent of the voters in November 2008 ban the practice following a massive campaign by church organisations and conservative groups.

The ban was then upheld in May 2009 by the California Supreme Court, which however did recognise the 18,000 gay marriages that were licensed by the state between May and November 2008 before the ballot measure was approved.(IANS)

A study by the University of Colorado – Denver business school found that if a woman is attractive, it is seen as a disadvantage for such job profiles.

Assistant professor Stefanie Johnson said it’s known as the “beauty is beastly” effect.

Study participants were given a list of jobs and photos of applicants and told to sort them according to suitability for the job.

Attractive women were overlooked for jobs that the participants considered masculine and instead tended to be sorted into positions such as receptionist or secretary.

“Attractive people still enjoy a significant edge in other jobs earning higher salaries and better work evaluations,” said Johnson.

The university administration, who took no time to issue a letter regarding implementation of semester system after the court’s proceeding in this regard, now says that court has no role to play on semester system. In a press conference on today the Vice Chancellor alleged that DUTA is misleading teachers on this issue. He said that the semester system would be implemented in rest of the undergraduate courses including Arts and Commerce by the next year.

Meanwhile, DUTA has said that Vice Chancellor has been isolated on the issue and trying to implement the system in an autocratic way. It says that teachers are already taking classes without VC’s instructions. On the other hand DUSU Vice President Kirti Wadhera has said that there is no scope for extra curricular activities under the proposed semester system. “The university never consulted students earlier on such an important issue”, Kirti Wadhera told fachcha.com.

DU is holding one-to-one counseling on Thursday for admission in these seats apart from BA & B.Com. A good number of seats are still unfilled in OBC categories and ECA cateegories. Interested candidates may contact college directly for the details in this regard.

Meanwhile, one player has alleged sexual harassment against Kaushik. 31 players, including some former players, have extended support to the allegation and put their signature on the letter.

Ready for new pitch! Delhi’s Finance Minister Dr. A K Walia during inauguration of Day-Night match in East Delhi.