Print this page
Published in News

Blackberry leaves Pakistan

by on30 November 2015


Security reasons


BlackBerry has pulled out of Pakistan, a country with a population of 180 million, citing "security reasons."

Writing in its company bog, a Blackberry COO Marty Beard said that it had enough of the Pakistan government’s constant demands for a backdoor into its internet services, which included email and BlackBerry Messenger (BBM).

"We do not support 'back doors' granting open access to our customers’ information and have never done this anywhere in the world," he said. This was not a question of public safety or even to help in police investigations. The Pakistani government just wanted to total access to everything all the time, Beard said.

"Pakistan was essentially demanding unfettered access to all of our ... customers' information. We are more than happy to assist law enforcement agencies in investigations of criminal activity... but the privacy of our customers is paramount to BlackBerry, and we will not compromise that principle.”

BlackBerry’s main selling point is the security in its phones and it supplies phones used by government and world leaders for this reason.

Pakistan's demands were evidently too much for the company to take, said Beard. 

The Government of Pakistan has notified BlackBerry that it has extended its shutdown orderfrom November 30 to December 30. BlackBerry will exit the market  then.

Last modified on 30 November 2015
Rate this item
(4 votes)