France raises BlackBerry security concerns

And now privacy advocates say the handheld devices which are becoming increasingly popular for e-mail access, telephone calls and Internet searches are not as secure as the manufacturers are claiming. E-Brief News reports that French Government officials are warning the public not to use BlackBerry devices because the US National Security Agency (NSA) might be eavesdropping on e-mails. BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) has dismissed any concerns as needless reaction to a \'rehashed two-year-old rumour\' that US spies peek into its network. According to a report on the News 24 site, BlackBerry devices are used by more than 700 000 government workers worldwide. The BlackBerry system has been accredited by security agencies in the US, Australia, New Zealand, Austria and Canada, RIM said, adding that a certification process is under way in the Netherlands and Germany. CNN reports that e-mails sent from BlackBerry devices pass through servers in US and Britain, and France fears that makes the system vulnerable to snooping by the National Security Agency, the ears and eyes of US intelligence. French lawmaker Pierre Lasbordes, who was commissioned in 2005 by then-Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin to look into such issues, said he alerted the government about the issue months ago. He said he met with RIM to discuss the problem in the course of preparing his report on the security of French information systems. The Canadian company \'admitted that there was a certain fragility in the protection of information when you use the e-mail system\' and promised it would be resolved. RIM insisted that BlackBerry e-mails cannot be read by the NSA or other spy organisations. The e-mails are more heavily encrypted than online banking Web sites, RIM said. Full report on the News24site Full CNN report

Google is often criticised for keeping too much data for too long – but now the company is threatening to turn off its free Google Mail service in Germany if proposed new laws go through. According to an ITWire report, the legislation before the Bundestag would require telecommunications providers to collect and retain personally-identifiable connection data (including Internet and telephone use) relating to German users for six months. Anonymous accounts would not be allowed. Comments made by Peter Fleischer, global privacy counsel at Google, have been variously translated by English-language publications, but the gist is that the company regards the proposed laws as a severe blow to privacy and would be prepared to stop offering the service to German users rather than allowing co-operation with the new law to harm its reputation. Full ITWire report

Staying with European privacy issues: A probe triggered by concerns over how long Google stores user information has widened to include all Internet search engines. The Star notes that the EU\'s panel of national data protection officers said it is now concerned about the retention of data that the companies use to deliver more relevant search results and advertising. Some fear the data could be targeted by hackers and governments. \'The Working Party will deal with search engines in general and scrutinise their activities from a data-protection point of view, because this issue affects an ever-growing number of users,\' it said. Trying to soothe EU concerns, Google this month offered to cut the time it retains data on user searches from the current 24 months to 18 months, saying this was going further than most other search engines. After that, identifying information is removed. Full report in The Star