Snowden: BlackBerry's Weak Privacy Stance Will See Firm 'Erased From History'

Source: the Inquirer

Whistleblower calls out Canadian firm's cosy relationship spy agencies

Edward Snowden is not a BlackBerry fan

WHISTLEBLOWER Edward Snowden has said that BlackBerry will be "erased from the pages of history" thanks to its weak stance on privacy and cosy relationship with government agencies.

Snowden, speaking at a Canadian technology conference on Wednesday, was keen to talk about BlackBerry and the fact that the company last year gave Canadian cops access to the firm's universal decryption key, enabling them to pore over one million BBM messages.

As reported at BetaKit, Snowden likened this to Apple's high-profile run-in with the FBI, which demanded that the firm bypassed the encryption on an iPhone 5C. Of course, Apple's stance was different to that taken by BlackBerry.

"You can end up standing up for what is right, you have to trust that even if it is digital, if you take a principled stand that that will do more good not just for your bottom line or country, but for your society and future," said Snowden.

"This is why [BlackBerry is] going to be erased from the pages of history. Apple is a very successful company, particularly as they make this pivot towards enforcing quite publicly the privacy rights. Ultimately, we're not talking about privacy, we're talking about the quality of society.

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