Google, Skype Targeted in India Security Crackdown

India is asking all companies that provide encrypted communications to place servers inside its borders so security officials can monitor user data. Increasingly, countries make demands on foreign firms producing goods and services desired by their citizens. “India seems to be gaining confidence in its own attractiveness as a market, taking a tougher stance with international companies, not just in telecommunications – where it is the world's fastest-growing major market – but also in mining and nuclear energy,” writes Erika Kinetz for the Associated Press. A server inside India, however, does not guarantee that officials can crack all codes. Company policies already differ from nation to nation. For example, Google keeps China’s total requests to examine data a secret, Skype warns Chinese users that it supplies data to China, and BlackBerry has been negotiating with India to retain corporate data on foreign servers. Communications are borderless, but users must expect that someone wants to peer at their transmissions. – YaleGlobal