BlackBerry responds to police eavesdropping report

(FILES) This file photo taken on April 16, 2013 shows the Blackberry Z10 smartphone using Blackberry 10 operating system in Washington, DC. Canadian federal police have been able to eavesdrop on messages sent between BlackBerry smartphones since at least 2010 using an encryption key it obtained, according to an online news magazine.The revelation was made in court documents obtained by Vice and its sister publication Motherboard. / AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEB

OTTAWA: BlackBerry appeared to acknowledge it helped Canadian federal police crack a Montreal crime syndicate that had been using its messaging system, while insisting its smartphone security remains impenetrable. 

In a blog post, BlackBerry chief executive John Chen reiterated the company’s long-held stance “that tech companies as good corporate citizens should comply with reasonable lawful access requests.”