Paris (France) – French government officials are ditching their Blackberry devices for fears of American eavesdropping. A government advisory, which is being sent to all French ministries, claims that the wireless email messages can be intercepted because they pass through servers in Canada, United States and the United Kingdom. Research in Motion adamantly assures the French that the emails are secure from everyone, even from employees at RIM.

The French believe the emails could be intercepted and read by the U.S. National Security Agency, but RIM says the emails are heavily encrypted by 256-bit strength AES (Advanced Encryption Standard). The sender and receiver addresses are also encrypted. 

The advisory was written by the French secretary-general for national defense and first made its rounds two years ago, but has since been updated and re-circulated.