Blackberry pulls out of Pakistan following consumer data request

The company is pulling its operations out of Pakistan at the end of this year due to what it deems as unreasonable requests from the country’s Telecommunications Authority. That agency wants access to Blackberry data that the company says would pose a major breach of user privacy.

The Pakistani government has requested that the company allow it to monitor email and text messages that are received in the country. BlackBerry maintains a global ban on any “backdoor” access to customer data.

On Monday, chief operating officer Marty Beard detailed the company’s reasoning in a blog post:

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.