Blackberry ban for French elite (US Spying

[wakeme2008]

Source: BBC

Last Updated: Wednesday, 20 June 2007, 09:25 GMT 10:25 UK

Blackberry ban for French elite
French government officials have been ordered not to use handheld Blackberry devices because of fears that the US could spy on them, reports say.

Workers in the French president's and prime minister's office have been told their e-mails risk falling into foreign hands, Le Monde newspaper reports.

France's SGDN security service is worried because Blackberries use US- and UK-based servers, the paper says.

But some officials are flouting the ban and using them in secret, it adds.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6221146.stm

[hlthe2b]

1. Good... the backlash begins.... AT&T-Cingular likewise need

to feel the "love" for their absolute disregard for civil liberties....

[acmavm]

2. Now really, would the US government do that?

You damn betcha.

[crikkett]

3. as if nobody ever knew that email could be intercepted and read by a 3rd party

I thought it was common knowledge, especially over corporate or government accounts, that unless it says it's secure, it isn't.

[jean]

4. too bad it wasn't the other way around, regarding Rove's emails

[Solo_in_MD]

5. This is truly amusing

It was the policy of the French government at one point (back in the DES days) that anyone using data encryption in France had to provide the keys to the Government. It was one of the justifications used for US Government pushing the Clipper chip as the mandatory national standard.

Anyone these days who does not understand that unencrypted email is the equivalent of a post card is a fool.

[Swede]

6. BlackBerry Ban for French Officials

Source: ABC News

French government security experts have reportedly banned with mixed success the use of BlackBerries in ministries and in the presidential palace, for fear that they are vulnerable to snooping by U.S. intelligence.

Le Monde said information sent from BlackBerries goes through servers in the United States and Britain, and that France fears that the U.S. National Security Agency can snoop.



Read more: http://www.abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=3297622

[benld74]

7. NAH, they wouldn't do that, would they?

[LiberalFighter]

8. Then Blackberry needs to have servers that don't need

to communicate with servers in England or the US unless messages are sent back and forth between those countries.