Apple giving backdoor cellular access to Indian military?

According to a group of hackers in India, Apple, RIM and Nokia could be providing backdoor access to the Indian government, allowing them to monitor user data. The Indian government might be insisting on this access in exchange for allowing Apple and other smartphone vendors to offer their products and services in India, they have allegedly given them access to cellular communications. The agreement appears to be called RINOA (Rim, Nokia, Apple).

Several documents have been found referring to RINOA and how information was gathered from some of these government bodies. I know India is a large country but I'm not quite sure what is more damaging -- not having a presence there at all or betraying your customers' trust by allowing the local government to access data without your knowledge.

Source: ZDNet

Allyson Kazmucha

iMore senior editor from 2011 to 2015.