The Home Ministry has asked the Departments of Telecommunication and Information Technology to examine the existing legal framework and recommend appropriate amendments of the law to ensure smooth access to services like Blackberry and Skype.

The move comes in the midst of the ongoing standoff between the government and service providers like Research In Motion (Blackberry) on the lawful interception of their services. The issue is yet to be resolved amicably.

"The DoT and DIT are requested to examine the Indian Telegraph Act 1885, Information Technology (Amendment Act), 2007, rules under the Telegraph and IT Acts and provisions in the licence agreements and recommend appropriate amendments so that requirements, to the extent possible, are incorporated in the Act itself," a Home Ministry official said.

While outlining the requirements of the Law Enforcement Agencies, the Home Ministry said the telecom service providers must ensure delivery of authorised intercepts based on telephone number, device identity, email ID, IP addresses, keywords etc, to the LEAs in an enclair manner naturally readable, audible and viewable format in real time followed by intercept-related information in legible format in near-real time.

"The telecom and internet services should include not only the services provided by the Indian telecom service providers and internet service providers but also the third party service providers like Google, Yahoo, Skype, RIM (Blackberry) etc," the Home Ministry communique said.

Ensure bulk call detail records (CDR) as requisitioned by LEAs with reference to Base Transceiver Station (BTS), Content Management System (CMS), specific period, country of origin/ destination etc. The period of retention of the CDRs should be for five years, it said.

Interception is to be made possible in cases of organised crime, heinous crimes, subversion, incitement to disaffection, enquiry into cases of leakage etc, under the Indian Telegraph Act and the Information Technology (Amendment) Act 2008.

Various stake holders are to be made criminally liable, besides the imposition of fine for violating or failing to meet the security requirements under the said Acts, it said.

Besides, there is a need to harmonise provisions of both the Acts and make penalty stiffer in term of both liability and fine and the applicability of both the Acts to the service providers and users, the Home Ministry said.

"Ensure bulk Internet Protocol Detail Record (IPDR) as requisitioned by LEAs with reference to source IP, destination IP, Date, Time URL, Email ID etc, even if it requires deep packet inspection. The period of retention of IPDRs should be for five years."