Is there a spy in your BlackBerry? Servers in UK may be tapped

Servers for BlackBerry in the UK may be being tapped into, in order to steal information from private handsets.

France's national security forces have warned that the wireless devices can be intercepted and have banned their use in the president's and prime minister's offices.

The security services said BlackBerry's servers in this country and in the US can be used to gather state secrets.

French oil company Total also warns staff from using a BlackBerry for "security reasons".

It is not the first time the French have worried about the must-have technology of bankers and journalists.

A confidential study carried out two years ago by Alain Juillet, the civil servant in charge of economic intelligence, found that the BlackBerry posed "a data security problem."

However, in Britain it was revealed how MPs will soon be able to take the devices into the Commons chamber for the first time so that they can check emails while waiting to speak.

Research In Motion, which makes the gadget, says eight million people use one.