Here's the next episode of the ongoing Blackberry saga... Word has it that the Intelligence Bureau (IB) has rejected RIM's (Research in Motion) proposal to decompress data sent from Blackberry to non-Blackberry phones, reason given being breach of privacy.

RIM claims it had offered to decompress data because Blackberry's communication network runs on 256-bit advanced data encryption while Indian security agencies are equipped to intercept signals up to 40-bits only.

The Intelligence Bureau has rejected the proposal for decompressing data as this means leaking of information about the person whose data is being intercepted; basically breach of individual privacy.

The Blackberry soap opera, if you will, has been running for too long now; the bone of contention being storage of communication between Blackberry devices on RIM servers based in Canada -- national security agencies have expressed serious concern over not being able to monitor this data which might in turn compromise national security.

A week back, the Department of Telecom (DoT) had proposed an interim solution wherein data exchanged between Blackberry users would be stored on the servers of telecom operators who provide the service in the country for a period of one year. In the meantime, DoT had also asked RIM to move some of its servers to India so that national security agencies could monitor Blackberry traffic.

And amidst all of this, India has assured Canada that the commercial interests of RIM, makers of Blackberry, would be kept in mind while taking a final decision.