The government will not suspend BlackBerry Enterprise Service (BES) from December 30, as the company has partially agreed to government’s conditions, we’ve confirmed from well placed sources.
Sources said Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and BlackBerry have made formal contact and agreed to resolve the access issue through negotiations and discussions have been held in this regard. BES has given its consent to assist the government on legal matters.
A proposal in this regard has been circulated to government stakeholders and final decision will be taken shortly, however BES is unlikely to be suspended in the country.
The government had earlier decided to stop the BES due to security concerns, as conversation under BES could not be decoded. Currently the monitoring system in Pakistan could not keep check on the BES.
Officials said that BlackBerry has allowed access to its communication services in many countries. It is a legal requirement and government wants to monitor all BES traffic in the country.
The Indian government and BlackBerry had also disagreement on monitoring, intercepting calls and messages made using BlackBerry devices. In 2013, the issue resolved, probably after BlackBerry agreed to some of the demands made by the Indian government.
In a statement issued at that time, BlackBerry had said
BlackBerry has delivered a solution that enables India’s wireless carriers to address their lawful access requirements for our consumer messaging services, which include BlackBerry Messenger and BlackBerry Internet Service email. The access to BlackBerry services is also allowed in most of the gulf countries including UAE and Saudi Arabia.
PTA in July had demanded access to BES, which encrypt data such as emails and instant messages, or shut it down by Nov 30. Citing security concerns PTA had also directed the mobile operators to stop offering BES to its customers after November 30, 2015. PTA had informed the cellular operators through a letter to give 90 days of notice to the customers before closing the services. According to official sources there are around 4,500 to 6,000 customers using BES in the country.
On November 30, 2015, BlackBerry announced its exit from Pakistan for too much pressure from Pakistani government for backdoor access.
However PTA has given a one month extension to BlackBerry for further discussion on how it will allow Pakistani government access to its communication services. After the extension from Pakistani government, BlackBerry stated on its website:
Government of Pakistan has notified BlackBerry that it has extended its shutdown order from November 30 to December 30. BlackBerry will delay its exit from the Pakistan market until then.
Urdu ki aik phrase yad aie hay ” SOO JOOTY OOR SO PAYAZ KHANA”. Ager manna tha to pahly he man lyty.
Aik misaal aur bhi hai Bhai. “thuka hua chaatna”.
blackberry succumbs to pakistan government oh boy blackberry really are in some deep water
Good *
So after criticizing government by propaki about the matter now shamelessly reporting this that BB agreed like they agreed in India GCC and many other countries.
Propakistani could be unbiased?
Never
BlackBerry DID NOT succumb to the government as it is IMPOSSIBLE for BlackBerry to give access to BES traffic as they do not hold the encryption keys, the individual companies using a BES server is the only key holder. This article is full of misinformation. There is no other countries that can do this either. Under the lawful access policy law enforcement with a signed warrant can obtain Location Data, who’s called who, and the metadata around that. Specifics Texts, Messages, BBM’s are safe as BlackBerry does NOT store the content.
I am sorry to interrupt but they have said the relevant info appropriately.
There is only *some* DATA that is shared in other countries and similar would be the case in Pakistan as well :-)
Not any BES data.
so i guess BB Priv is coming after all ?!
The author has only spiced this news up. If you read the original BB blog, COO clearly says that they have not provided wholesale access to their BES to any country — and they are willing to assist address the security concerns. They are not providing complete access to BES.
BlackBerry phone or services log abhi bhi user karte hain kya idhr ? wondering…………….
After productive discussions, the Government of Pakistan has
rescinded its shutdown order, and BlackBerry has decided to remain in
the Pakistan market.
We are grateful to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority and the
Pakistani government for accepting BlackBerry’s position that we cannot
provide the content of our customers’ BES traffic, nor will we provide
access to our BES servers.
We look forward to serving the Pakistani market for years to come,
including introducing new products and services, and thank our valued
customers in Pakistan for their patience and loyalty.