BlackBerry will no longer pull out of Pakistan after resolving a dispute with the country’s government over data privacy.
Marty Beard, BlackBerry’s COO, has stated: “After productive discussions, the government of Pakistan has rescinded its shutdown order, and BlackBerry has decided to remain in the Pakistan market.”
BlackBerry previously stated that it would leave Pakistan before the end of 2015, after the government ordered it to shut down its secure messaging service for “security reasons”. Human rights privacy watchdog Privacy International has reported that the Inter-Services Intelligence – Pakistan’s military intelligence agency – is aiming to improve its ability to intercept communications.
The device manufacturer has run into trouble before in various markets over its refusal to provide governments with back-door access to its BlackBerry Enterprise Service (BES) traffic or servers. The firm’s use of encryption to prevent monitoring of user data has led to BES being banned in India and Indonesia, among other markets.
