OTTAWA: Research In Motion has vowed to defend the legal privacy rights of BlackBerry users after the judicial commission ordered copies of smartphone communications for the Memogate scandal probe.
On Monday, the commission directed Pakistan government officials to obtain the BlackBerry ‘record of conversation’ between Mansoor Ijaz and Husain Haqqani. Canada-based RIM, which makes the BlackBerry, said: “Like others in our industry, from time to time, we may receive requests from legal authorities for lawful access assistance.”
The statement added: “We are guided by appropriate legal processes and publicly disclosed lawful access principles in this regard as we balance any such requests against our priority of maintaining the privacy rights of our users.”
Published in The Express Tribune, January 5th, 2012.
COMMENTS (47)
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It is Supreme Court of Pakistan's Judicial Commission which has asked for the record of communication, if Black Berry makers declines to follow the orders, they should be included in list of accused. Appropriate action should be taken to block this system at least in Pakistan forthwith, for not adhering to law of the land.
@Bee: Sir this is Zia's Pakistan.... where 90 days mean 90 months after reciting from holy book where elections cannot be held untill positive results are expected. one is guilty unless proven innocent and may be after their death.
No RIM ban is required. Just a simple legal request to the company asking them to reveal the conversations of the two involved people that took place between some defined period. That legal request than be signed by mansoor Ejaz, hussain huqqani and pakistan government official.
That's all but the question is " will Mr. Haqqani give permission to such revelation " He has to do because he is also pleading innocence
Haqqani resign in order to clear his name. He must submit affidavit allowing his privacy rights to Research in Motion to disclose all communication between him and Mansoor Ejaz.
@Gul Khan: CJ was honored by many including Harvard for his fight against the army dictator. Just like Obama, Y. Arfat, and I. Rabin were awarded Nobel prizes. What happened after the awards?Did any of these achieve the peace? Many leaders have been recognized by their services before they become dictator, or a war monger like Obama. We have all supported CJ when he was for democracy and against the army rule and its victim in the hope that despite being a PCO judge, he would provide justice to all including common man. Regards, Mirza
Hypocrisy and discrimination by RIM . What about the recent probes in UK when RIM supplied all private info head over heels !
I don't think so this generic statement leads to denial by RIM. RIM is supposed to respond to legal notice that would be served meantime. More importantly cell phone data given by Ijaz himself can also lead to the conclusion.
@Ameri
If this was a US security issue NSA would have already accessed the info without needing RIM.
Even SHOs respect each others jurisdiction. RIM is an Ontario corporation governed by the laws of that province. You don't have to be a judge or lawyer to figure that out.
Blackberry did not refuse, they just explained the law and most of us are after their blood.. Great message to International Business Entities. This is the attitude nobody wants to do business with us.
Banning Blackberry won't matter.. Pakistan is not a big market for Blackberry. Remember you are not India or china where revenues in dollars will matter for company like BB
I have read the non sense idea of banning BB services in pakistan.people with out understanding write down the facts that pak cant afford any foolishness with international investors.More over,RIM has asked to follow the legal procedure to access any data.After all, every individual wants his personal call records to be maintained as classified..Otherwise there would be law of jungle on the roads!!
@Sam
West disregards all values,ethics and rules to protect their own interests.
While the 'memo' continues to be unsigned and unestablished, the terrorist attack on Mumbai is an established fact.
India has been seeking 'voice samples' of the accused from Pakistan,for 3 years, without any success. Do remind the Pakistani judiciary about 'values,ethics and rules'. PLEASE.
"If hussain Haqani is innocent then he should request himself to RIM to allow access"
Correct me if I am wrong, the onus is on the people who accuses to prove that a person is guilty and not on the accused to prove his innocence.
If RIM refuses, boycott and ream RIM. If they refuse to obey jurisdiction of the court in Pak, they should not operate here.
With Americans backing Haqqani, RIM will never give the required data to Pakistan
@sam: This is not a matter of protecting "interests". This is their LAW.
Some countries do have and abide by the law.
@Gul Khan: No need to get emotional about these things. It is true that the Pakistani courts have historically had very low credibility levels.
Hope this time it is different!
@Hammad: Agree completely. Ban Blackberry in Pakistan. Apple iPhone is already eating into RIM's market and Pakistan should aid in RIM's demise. India once ordered access to Blackberry traffic in India and RIM yielded only when India announced a complete shutdown of Blackberry services. The same should happen in Pakistan.
If hussain Haqani is innocent then he should request himself to RIM to allow access.
CJ should ban BB services and sale in Pakistan. soon you will see the results......
court should prepare a legal request with signs of Masoor Ejaz and Hussain Haqani that they have no objection over giving the record to SC
Ha ha ha all are parhay likhay Jahils . cant even use technology
I see no reason why a Chinese company can replace RIM services in Pakistan .... And that too at a fraction of the attitude!!
Oh please yaar..RIM has been banned from number of countries because of this issue. RIM states that if they start giving conversation out...there utmost power will be lost...nothing to do with western style ...PLEASE
^^ Pakistani SC has no legal or ethical standing in the world'.
Seems you are way more impressed from the western and american judicial system. FYI
The Harvard Law School awarded its highest honour, the Medal of Freedom, to Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. He is the first Pakistani to be presented with such honour and a third person in world to receive this award.
Easy, block blackberry sales in Pakistan. This is not an individual who is requesting, its the court of law.
should ban RIM and all its services if they refuse to cooperate with the judicial probe
@Mirza Pakistani SC has no legal or ethical standing in the world'.
Seems you are way more impressed from the western and american judicial system. FYI
The Harvard Law School awarded its highest honour, the Medal of Freedom, to Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. He is the first Pakistani to be presented with such honour and a third person in world to receive this award other than Nelson Mandela and Oliver Hill.
Commission should ask for authority letter from Mansoor Ijaz and Hussain Haqqani stating that the commission should be allowed to access blackberry communication between these two people.
@Amir: Things like that tend to happen when you want favors from people you're simultaneously preaching the death of.
I think RIM will have to provide access , otherwise SC can impose a ban on sale of RIM products in Pakistan. And this will hurt the already troubled smartphone maker.
SC is in a position to dictate terms....They have no choice but to allow access!
If RIM cannot respect Pakistan's sovereignty (and this IS a question of sovereignty) then RIM should cease doing business in Pakistan... Android is better anyway.
Threaten to ban BB services in Pakistan (like the Gulf states did if access was not provided to government) and RIM will toe the line. Nobody is above business ;)
will we ever stop making utter fools of ourselves on the world stage .... over and over again???
BAN Blackberry in Pakistan ... We are sovereign country and our authorities have all the right to request details on any kind of suspicion charges. AND, yes had it been a US national security issue, RIM would have allowed access into Obama's blackberry as well. The only way to get RIM to get their act right is to BAN blackberries in Pakistan. Haqqani could be an angel in the aftermath of this judicial follow up.
@sam : They are all united tio protect ISI charade
@sam
If the entire ‘Western world’ had wanted to protect Haqqani, then Admiral Mullen would simply have denied the existence of memo
Read the fine print... They are not denying access to the messages. Plus they have already earlier stated that a judicial probe / order from a court would probably lead them to allow access.
The PCO SC has no jurisdiction over any global businesses. On one foreign double agent's testimony our generals and SC can move but the whole world would not. According to International law an unsigned memo has no value especially when a decorated US general Jones has told the court that the memo had nothing to do with Pakistani govt or HH. "You can fool some of the people some of the time but not all the people all the time". Looking at its history Pakistani SC has no legal or ethical standing in the world.
Blackberry will not provide required information. they all united to protect Haqqani.Its a typical western style. West disregards all values,ethics and rules to protect their own interests.
Had this been a US security issue, RIM would have taken no time to allow access to any client
ooops, happy now. How will ISI investigate now.....