Blackberry CEO says Apple has gone to a “dark place” with pro-privacy stance

John Chen, the Blackberry chairman and CEO, is ripping Apple's position that granting the authorities access to a suspected criminal's mobile device would "tarnish" the iPhone maker's image.

"We are indeed in a dark place when companies put their reputations above the greater good. At BlackBerry, we understand, arguably more than any other large tech company, the importance of our privacy commitment to product success and brand value: privacy and security form the crux of everything we do. However, our privacy commitment does not extend to criminals," Chen wrote in a blog post titled "The encryption Debate: a Way Forward."

Chen links to a recent Ars story in which Apple is fighting the authorities on whether it should give them access to an iPhone running iOS 7. Among other things, Apple argues in the criminal case that "forcing Apple to extract data in this case, absent clear legal authority to do so, could threaten the trust between Apple and its customers and substantially tarnish the Apple brand. This reputational harm could have a longer term economic impact beyond the mere cost of performing the single extraction at issue."

In the wake of the Edward Snowden revelations, Apple chief Tim Cook decided not to build backdoor access to locked devices running iOS 8 and iOS 9. Earlier versions, like iOS 7, can be accessed by Apple. The Justice Department has frowned on Cook's actions.

Chen insinuated that if a Blackberry phone was at issue in the case Ars wrote about, he would comply with the search warrant. "We reject the notion that tech companies should refuse reasonable, lawful access requests. Just as individual citizens bear responsibility to help thwart crime when they can safely do so, so do corporations have a responsibility to do what they can, within legal and ethical boundaries, to help law enforcement in its mission to protect us," he wrote.

The CEO also said he would never build government backdoors into its products and noted that the Canadian company was leaving Pakistan because the Pakistani government wants to monitor all Blackberry Enterprise Service traffic. What's more, he said, a ban on encryption would never work, as "criminals would simply write their own encryption apps." Chen largely concludes that the tech sector bears "a dual responsibility, to protect customer privacy zealously and to cooperate with lawful requests for investigative access."