Blackberries branded a threat to French national security

AS BRITISH GOVERNMENT ministers move to allow handheld gadgetry into the Commons, their French counterparts face a ban on Blackberries for reasons of national security.

The fact that the Crackberries send and recieve data through servers in the UK and the US is one reason for the ban, an advisor to the French Prime Minister said.

Alain Juillet, an economic intelligence advisor reckons the concentration of potentially sensitive data in so small a system poses a threat to national security. He suggests the data could be easily intercepted. And you can't trust those Brits or Yanks anyhow.

"The risks of interception are real. It's economic warfare out there," he said.

French officials were first warned about using Blackberries some two years ago but Juillet has now seen fit to reissue the advice.

According to Le Monde French politicians are grumbling about the move.

"They tried to suggest another device we should use other than the Blackberry but it didn't work, so some are using their Blackberry in secret," a cabinet minister told the paper. µ