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BlackBerry is banned in Pakistan

by Josef Kafka

Surveillance has been in the news a lot over the past few months, particularly in relation to mobile phones. Mobile phones have been a major point of contention in regards to the surveillance state, as they are one of the primary ways that governments collect data on their citizens as part of their surveillance programmes. In response to this, many smartphone manufacturers and third party software developers have organised ways in which to avoid this surveillance, mainly by using encryption, either built into the phone itself or using downloadable apps.

BlackBerry, which used to produce phones for personal use in the UK but now is focused on business development, is one of the pioneers of including encryption software in its mobile phones, and has been praised by many privacy advocacy groups for its work in promoting encryption and helping its users to avoid surveillance. However, this has now caused them to pull out of their operations in Pakistan, as their anti-surveillance encryption software has led to a falling out with the Pakistani government.

The Pakistani government has banned the BlackBerry Enterprise Servers, which facilitated encrypted data and communication services to BlackBerry users. This is because they feel that this encryption software violates their surveillance programme, which is one of the most aggressive in all of Asia. In response to this, BlackBerry have confirmed that they will officially cease all operations in Pakistan as of the end of this year. They were meant to pull out by November, but after discussions with Pakistani government officials, the date was changed to coincide with the end of the year.

In an official statement, BlackBerry said that the Pakistani government wanted access to their encrypted user data, as it steps up its surveillance programme. They said that government officials wanted to monitor "every email and BBM message" sent by BlackBerry users, but the company refused to comply, and won't allow the granting of "back doors" to governments in aid of surveillance. This is because BlackBerry believe that the surveillance was not in aid of "public safety", and that it will allow surveillance of its users in situations related to "criminal activity".

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/nov/30/blackberry-pakistan-government-surveillance

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