The head of the United Nations telecommunications agency has urged the Canadian maker of the BlackBerry, Research in Motion, to allow law enforcement agencies access to customer data.

The Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union, Hamadoun Toure, said in London Wednesday that all governments fighting terrorism have the right to users' information.

Hamadoun Toure, chief of the UN's telecommunication agency, says governments all over the world have legitimate security concerns that justify companies such as Google, RIM, Nokia and Microsoft turning over user data. (Sang Tan/Associated Press)

His comments came as India widened its security crackdown on encrypted communication, asking other companies to install servers inside its borders to allow it to obtain users' data.

That would likely affect such companies as Google, Nokia, Microsoft and perhaps Skype, if it begins to offer services in India. Nokia has already agreed to place a server in India by Nov. 5.

India has threatened to ban BlackBerrys if Waterloo,Ont.-based RIM doesn't provide a security fix by the end of October.

It began a sweeping information security review after the November 2008 terror attack in Mumbai, which was co-ordinated with cellphones, satellite phones and internet calls.

Officials are also eager to avoid any trouble at the Commonwealth Games, a major sporting event to be held in New Delhi in October.

RIM has said it is unable to provide anyone with the text of emails sent using its corporate service, which is designed for secure communications.

It has also maintained that the geographic location of a server has no bearing on a government's ability to crack encrypted data.

Indonesia, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have also raised concerns that the BlackBerry's powerful encryption could be used as a cover for terrorist and criminal activity.

Civil libertarians have argued that the controversy is, in fact, fueled by authoritarian governments' frustration with their inability to eavesdrop on users.

Google does give some access

Google India spokeswoman Paroma Roy Chowdhury said the company does provide user content to law enforcement agencies but only after the requests have been reviewed by an internal committee at Google.

"Only in exceptional circumstances — when there is a threat of large-scale human loss, like a bomb threat — is the content made available," she said

According to Google's website, India made 1,061 requests for user data in the second half of 2009, the most after Brazil, the U.S. and Britain.

The website did not disclose numbers from China because, it said, "Chinese officials consider censorship demands as state secrets."

Google did not disclose how many requests were granted.

With files from The Associated Press