The government of Pakistan has issued an order banning BlackBerry Enterprise Server in the country. All operators have been instructed to shut the service down by November 30, 2015. Pakistan is the latest government in recent years to take issue with BlackBerry's encryption. It appears the government wants the ability to intercept communications on a widespread basis.
BlackBerry has worked with governments in the past, but still claims they do not give access to BES.
Does Pakistan really believe people will just stop using BlackBerry? People who really care about encryption will find other ways to communicate. It's just that simple!
“Pakistan’s intelligence agencies have abused their communications surveillance powers, including by spying on opposition politicians and supreme court judges. Widespread internet monitoring and censorship has also been used to target journalists, lawyers and activists,” the report said.
BlackBerry has worked with governments in the past, but still claims they do not give access to BES.
BlackBerry said: “BlackBerry provides the world’s most secure communications platform to government, military and enterprise customers. Protecting that security is paramount to our mission. While we recognise the need to cooperate with lawful government investigative requests of criminal activity, we have never permitted wholesale access to our BES servers.”
Does Pakistan really believe people will just stop using BlackBerry? People who really care about encryption will find other ways to communicate. It's just that simple!