French Fear U.S. Spying on 'Le Blackberry'

French government defense officials are advising government workers to give up using their Blackberrys during work for fear that U.S. intelligence agencies and allies may be monitoring emails for state secrets, according to an Associated Press report. The French are also worried that the Le Blackberrys, as the French call them, may be used to steal corproate secrets.

French lawmaker Pierre Lasbordes explained the advisement this way: "It's not a question of trust. We are friends with the Americans, the Anglo-Saxons, but it's economic war." Emails sent via Blackberrys go through servers in the United States and Britain.

Research In Motion, maker of the Blackberrys, says the encryption used for sending email over Blackberrys is stronger than what banks use for online banking.