p2pnet.net news:- Canada’s BlackBerry has been banned by the French General Secretariat for National Defense within the hallowed precincts of presidential palace and government ministries, extending an existing 18-month-old ban.

And who are the French worried about?

Citing security concerns, “BlackBerry data passes [sic] through servers in the United States and Britain,” says the Washington Post, quoting Le Monde, billed as France’s “most authoritative newspaper,” and, “The risks of interception are real,” the story has Alain Juillet, head of the government’s economic intelligence unit, stating.

Still in Le Monde, “It’s not a question of trust,” says French legislator Pierre Lasbordes in the Sydney Morning Herald. “We are friends with the Americans, the Anglo-Saxons, but it’s economic war.”

Blackberry manufacturer Research In Motion, “admitted that there was a certain fragility in the protection of information when you use the email system,” but, “promised it would be resolved, said Lasbordes,” according to the story, adding, “That was more than a year ago.”

But RIM insists BlackBerry emails can’t be read by the NSA or other spy organisations: “The emails are more heavily encrypted than online banking web sites, Research In Motion said in a written statement,” says the SMH. “No one, including RIM, has the ability to view the content of any data communication sent using the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution,” the company said.

Adds the Herald story:

“The BlackBerry system has been accredited by security agencies in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Austria and Canada, Research in Motion said, adding that a certification process is under way in the Netherlands and Germany.”

Slashdot it!

Also See:
Washington Post - Memo to French Officials: Beware the BlackBerry, June 21, 2007
Sydney Morning Herald - Blackberries nipped amid security fears, June 21, 2007

If your Net access is blocked by government restrictions, try Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk Centre for International Studies. Go here for the official download, and here for details. And if you’re Chinese and you’re looking for a way to access independent Internet news sources, try Freegate, the DIT program written to help Chinese citizens circumvent web site blocking outside of China. Download it here.

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Tired of being treated like a criminal? They depend on you, not the other way around. Don’t buy their ‘product’. Do bug your local politicians. Use emails, snail-mail, phone calls, faxes, IM, stop them in the street, blog. And if you’re into organizing, organize petitions, organize demonstrations and then turn up on your local political rep’s doorstep, making sure you’ve contacted your local tv/radio station/newspaper in advance. Don’t just complain. Do something!

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 21st, 2007 at 6:32 am and is filed under Mobiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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