MSNBC:
Sorry, Mr. President. Please surrender your BlackBerry.
Those are seven words President-elect Barack Obama is dreading but expecting to hear, friends and advisers say, when he takes office in 65 days.
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How is he going to be able to ensure that he's not being fed lies without being able to use technology to help decipher fact from fiction?
Well, with as dependent as his campaign was on 21st Century technology, I bet he'll have a "withdrawal period". I also think that he won't miss the device as much as he will miss the open communication he has enjoyed up until this point. It will be hard at first, but I do not think you've seen the last of "Obama in Cyberspace" (sounds like the name of a new TV series!)
Please don't compare the 2
I want Obama to keep his Blackberry! Not only will he need every effective tool to be CEO of this huge, screwed up country, but the biggest reason is to burst the presidential bubble! Anything to keep him from becoming LBJ during Vietnam or George Bush during well, his entire presidency. We can't afford a president who doesn't live in the real world like the rest of us. Please find a way for him to keep his feet grounded.
He'll live. Bush was a big emailer but he had to quit when he took office, too. I think if W can adjust, surely O bama can.
Please don' t compare the2
what a comparison
And there you go. Case closed. The Blackberry stays.
I have got to get me a Blackberry. I feel so out of it!
I wonder if Obama can send me his since he won't be needing it any longer! Well, no harm in asking....
As I understand it, BlackBerry communications are all hosted on RIM servers. I think this is the security issue. Probably he just needs to get an iPhone.
I think the problem is not so much using foreign servers as much as using any servers outside of the White House. An iPhone wouldn't make any difference.
Sorry but that is not correct. Like any decent PDA a Blackberry can run all kinds of software and email systems. So for a normal user if I have a Yahoo account and send an email to someone with an AOL account our messages will be distributed over servers that belong to AOL and Yahoo. That is one of the things that makes it so difficult to track down and delete all threads in a conversation. Its no different if you use an iPhone.
He'll get over it, I suspect :)
This sounds to me like an opportunity for a new technology: an enhanced secure email system. Right now it is virtually impossible to secure your email messages. No matter what you do from your end copies of messages get saved not only by the people you send to but on intermediary servers. BTW, that is why the idea that thousands of emails "went missing" from the WH is complete rubbish. In fact its quite difficult to track down all the copies of a message and make sure they are deleted.
But it doesn't have to be that way. It wouldn't be very difficult to develop a secure email system that automatically deleted messages after a set time and that didn't let people copy or save messages. The last part is the hardest but not impossible (e.g. send the message as an image rather than a text file). It would be more difficult to use, everyone that wanted to communicate with the pres would probably need to load some special software on their laptops and PDA's but it could be done.
Don't forget the copies the FBI keeps also. The Carnivore program needs to be rethought.
http://www
Good point. And I agree Carnivore definitely needs to be rethought, for lots of reasons. However, in this case remember that starting in January Obama controls the FBI so he could make them program it so as to ignore messages to and from the president. I still agree though Carnivore is a complete infringement on our privacy. Not only that but its also a waste of time and money. I've read some books by people (e.g. Richard Clarke) who are familiar with homeland security and they all say that programs like Carnivore generate mountains of useless data that just wastes the time of the people who sort through it.
The White House needs to come into the 21st Century - can't they incript BO's communications?
Anything incrypted can be uncrypted.
POTUS is run by the CIA, FBI, ISI, CFR and Kroll Industries. He is the puppet of the three zies, and does what they say, does not ask why, who, how, or how much. That is a little fact the American people seem to forget. if you notice, those who get elected were selected by these groups prior to the election process. It explains a lot about how they get funded for thier campaigns, how they are protected from and by the media. Barack is going to have to do a fine tap dance around them if he expects to have any kind of a life at all. They run the country for all practical purposes. Yes, he gets the perks of a president, but it has to jive with what the others want. If for example, he were to have a conversation with someone against an idea they pitched to him, his answers would be filtered. They don't want thier little secrets out. Been going on for years. I wasn't surprised when I read this, not at all.
ok --blank look--
So what's going to happen in the 24th century? These rapidly outdated approaches will still be used to avert usage of the technology? Nonsense.
Surely the sensible appraoch is to tap the tech brains to come up with a viable solution/s
He will find a solution. As I remember, he will appoint the first White House Chief Technology Officer. I believe one of his deliverables will be bringing the White House into the 21st Century. Obama believes in leveraging technology and I will not be suprised if the new CTO finds a solution for the e-mail situation.
Yes we Can
First in line no guarantee for inaugural tickets: http://www
i have no doubt that O's administration will find a way to bring the oval office into the 21st century. his campaign's use of technology was extraordinary and they will continue to use technology to get the masses involved in the political process. as a senator, O was successful in his effort to have government spending be open to public review on the internet, so I know that transparency will be of utmost importance for him.
it's beyond me that they would seek to cut the president off from the internet when it's so vital to staying abreast of new developments around the world. it can be argued that mccain's disdain for "the internets" cost his campaign tremendously, and I believe that O will again use it to his (and our) advantage.
from a green perspective, you would think they would welcome the use of digital resources as a means to cut down on paper waste. go figure.
Problem - Limiting of access to the real world due to denial of Blackberry.
Reason - Hackers could intercept messages that need to be private and/or secure.
Challenge - Allow the President to receive messages but create a secure way for him to reply (if and where appropriate.
Possible Answer: Let him receive incoming messages but carefully monitor and channel outbound messages through a designated committee or overseer. Naturally, anything deemed "sensitive" could then be shifted to more traditional totally secure avenues of communications.
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First Posted: 11-15-08 11:06 PM | Updated: 12-16-08 05:12 AM