French government considers Blackberry ban

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Security concerns have led to the French government considering banning the use of Blackberry smartphones.

Fears that data can be snooped upon by comes after advice from the French General Secretariat for National Defence (SGDN), which is responsible for national security in France. Alain Juillet, head of economic intelligence for the French government, told French newspaper Le Monde that there was a "real risk of interception" on the BlackBerry network.

The French secret service is concerned that the US national Security Agency could be listening in on devices carried by officials as messages pass through servers based in the UK, US and Canada.

Blackberry makers Research in Motion (RIM) told media that messages could not be intercepted and said that not even employees of the company could read messages transmitted through the network.

RIM said that emails are heavily encrypted using 256-bit AES with both sender and receiver's email address encrypted as well.

"The NSA does not have the ability to view the content of any data communication sent through BlackBerry IT servers," said a RIM spokesman in a statement. "All data communications sent through the BlackBerry IT servers are encrypted and the origin of the emails cannot be traced or analysed for content."

He said that the company was committed to working with and supporting the needs of French government and business and this included protecting data from "attack and unauthorised access."

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