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BlackBerry Ban For French Govt
French ministers are hopping mad because their national security agency has banned the use of BlackBerry handheld email devices, warning that the US could intercept French state secrets.
As BlackBerry mail servers are located in the US and Britain, security officials fear that sensitive information could be hacked by rival spies. Meanwhile in Britain, MPs are going to be allowed to bring their BlackBerries into the House of Commons.
The ban follows a study carried out two years ago by France's head of economic intelligence Alain Juillet, who found that BlackBerry handhelds could pose a "security problem." "The risk of interception is real," he said, "it's an economic war."
Foreign ministry officials have stopped using them for work purposes, but members of other ministries have to date proved unwilling to give up the portable email devices, which are popular with businesses and governments around the world.
US Vice President Dick Cheney was famously filmed fiddling with his BlackBerry during a speech.
Ministers complained to French journalists that they have not been offered an alternative to their BlackBerries (and the French might have to wait until the end of the year for the iPhone, unless the BlackBerry ban is a cunning plan to get an early bulk order in for the long-awaited Apple device).
This isn't the first time that RIM's indispensible device has met with security fears. The Australian government allows its staff to use BlackBerries, but prohibits sending certain categories of document; French oil firm TotalFinaElf also bans the devices. Even in the US, where BlackBerries are hugely popular, government offices prohibit BlackBerries (along with other mobile phones) which have cameras attached.
UPDATE No such worries in Britain, where MPs have been told that they are allowed to bring their BlackBerries into the House of Commons, the Times reports. MPs were worried that sitting for hours on the benches of the Chamber was wasted time. Their CrackBerries should keep them in touch, but, as the newspaper reports,
"The move raises the prospect of rival MPs bending over their BlackBerrys, thumbs twirling, to e-mail abuse to each other across the floor of the Commons during heated exchanges. Party whips, too, may e-mail threats to rebel MPs poised to speak in a debate.
"Such behaviour would, however, only replicate what already happens in the Commons in other forms. MPs regularly swap insults — sotto vocce or loudly behind their hands — or pass notes to one another. Whips, too, are often seen flitting between the benches for a quiet word with potential trouble-makers."
