BlackBerry's CEO has responded to critics after it was revealed last week that the RCMP used a key to unlock approximately one million encrypted PIN-to-PIN messages sent between personal BlackBerry users since at least 2010.

BlackBerry CEO John Chen published a blog post on the company's website Monday, noting that the company has always sought to "do what is right for the citizenry, within legal and ethical boundaries."

"We have long been clear in our stance that tech companies as good corporate citizens should comply with reasonable lawful access," Chen said.

"I have stated before that we are indeed in a dark place when companies put their reputations above the greater good."

Chen said the company, headquartered in Waterloo, Ont., always strives to find a balance between "doing what's right" for the greater good, and protecting citizens' privacy. He pointed to an example from last November, when BlackBerry refused to give the Pakistan government access to its servers due to privacy concerns.

He also pointed to a case from 2014 , when the RCMP, with the help of BlackBerry, was able to intercept messages between suspected Montreal gang members, leading to dozens of arrests.

"In the end, the case resulted in a major criminal organization being dismantled," he said. "Regarding BlackBerry's assistance, I can reaffirm that we stood by our lawful access principles. Furthermore, at no point was BlackBerry's (enterprise server) involved."

Privacy experts expressed outrage last week, after news of the RCMP encryption key was revealed.

Ann Cavoukian, Ontario's former Privacy Commissioner, said the fact that the key would have allowed the RCMP to read anyone's encrypted communications, not just the "bad guys," was "outrageous."

The issue of privacy and encryption made headlines earlier this year, when Apple opposed an order to help the FBI hack into an iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino shooters. In an open letter, Apple CEO Tim Cook said complying with the order would result in a new type of software that is "too dangerous to create."

Eventually, the FBI said it was able to hack into the phone without Apple's help.

This is not the first time Chen has commented on the issue of privacy.

In a blog post from last year, he noted that government officials have pleaded with technology companies for years to access criminals’ encrypted data.

In the post, he appeared to allude to an example where Apple refused a lawful access request in an investigation of a known drug dealer, “because doing so would ‘substantially tarnish the brand’ of the company.

“At BlackBerry, we understand, arguable 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,” he said in the post.