BlackBerry Blackout: White House Staffers Shut Off Email Devices Over Chinese Spying Fears

A senior White House official says staffers accompanying President Bush to China have been told to leave their BlackBerries at home, reports CBS News White House correspondent Peter Maer.

The mobile e-mail blackout is the latest sign of U.S. concerns over Chinese cyber-spying. Sensitive presidential communications are always encrypted, but government cyber-security experts are worried about electronic eavesdropping on the BlackBerries, which are difficult to protect from snooping.

BlackBerries have been banned on other presidential foreign trips but the order underscores specific concerns about Chinese spying during the Olympics, reports Maer.

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Comments

[captnEarl]

Whats the matter with the pres I thought he liked spying! They do it on the rest of us. He is a hipocrite!

[PAposter]

OMG, why is Bush going to China? What is going to say, to make matters worse?

[gfm975]

You know what? Let them take their Blackberrys, because it would be the FIRST time may in this God awful administration would ever experience any sort of Oversight action!