BlackBerry will no longer be operating in Pakistan by the end of 2015 due to conflicts with the country's government. The tech company cannot allow massive invasion of their user's privacy which made them decide to shut down its operations in the region.
Pakistan's Telecommunications Authority is demanding the wireless equipment company to surrender the privacy of its users by monitoring their encrypted emails and BBM messages sent and received inside the country. The Canadian company cannot agree to the government's order so it is withdrawing its business operations on December.
The news was confirmed in a blog post written on Monday by the Marty Beard, the Chief Operating Officer of BlackBerry. The tech company stated that it is conducting a blanket ban to the backdoor access to the users' personal and private information.
Beard reasoned that the Pakistani government is not actually talking about public safety but merely invasion of privacy which BlackBerry cannot allow.
"Pakistan's demand was not a question of public safety; we are more than happy to assist law enforcement agencies in investigations of criminal activity. Rather, Pakistan was essentially demanding unfettered access to all of our BES customers' information," Chief Operating Officer of the company stated.
Though digital data have been helpful in solving crimes and stopping security threats, massive surveillance of the government in the form of tapping phone lines and opening mail can exceed beyond the limit. Tech companies nowadays are becoming problematic since the authorities started requesting for access to the users' personal data.
BlackBerry is not the only tech company being told to surrender the users' privacy to the government. Issues regarding encrypted communications are now becoming hot topics.
After learning that the privacy of the users' would be compromised, BlackBerry decided to leave Pakistan. The company's move served as an example to other companies like Sony, Microsoft, Google, Apple and Facebook which are also being questioned about encrypted communications.
