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Obama's keeping his Blackberry

post #1 of 12
1/22/09 at 11:00pm
Thread Starter 
I'm so glad they finally relented!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/...08/7846232.stm

I think it's so stupid that they wouldn't let him keep it. Just because it hasn't been done before, doesn't mean they can't find a way to do it. I think it's so important for high ranking officials to be able to keep in touch with people.

I have friends who are among some of the smartest IT security people around, and they explained how everything could be safely encrypted, so nobody could get unauthorised access to it.

I'm glad the new administration is embracing technology and moving forward
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post #2 of 12
1/23/09 at 5:34am
Encryption is one thing...let's just hope Obama doesn't leave it somewhere. I think THAT was one of the biggest concerns, but if he has a "Blackberry wrangler" on his team, that could eliminate that problem.

And yes, I pulled "Blackberry wrangler" out of thin air, lol.
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post #3 of 12
1/23/09 at 5:52am
One of the bigger issues will be the laws regarding any correspondence with the White House. Regular White House email is by law to be archived which is where Bush's White House had some problems. And then there was the issue of Palin's state govt employees doing govt business with personal email.

I wonder if Obama understands that his Blackberry isn't probably his any more but subject to laws governing any govt correspondence. It would be conceivable to have someone request information under the "Freedom of Information" Act. Then Obama will have to decide to live up to his pledge of a more open government (which I applaud - Bush went too far the other way and shut the govt from the people).
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post #4 of 12
1/23/09 at 6:31am
I’m glad they are letting him keep it. I don’t see how anyone can run even a small business without one much less the entire country! I think it is ridiculous to ask the president of all people to not use email with as dependent as the world is on it.
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post #5 of 12
1/23/09 at 6:38am
It's a nice GPS tracking device too, for those with the ability to do so.
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post #6 of 12
1/23/09 at 7:39am
I hope he plays video games in his spare time, too.

Frankly, wanting to take away his Blackberry is just one example of how the federal bureacracy tries to insulate and isolate the President. I hope Obama will be one President who keeps in touch with the outside world.
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post #7 of 12
1/23/09 at 7:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by neetanddave View Post
It's a nice GPS tracking device too, for those with the ability to do so.
That was one of the major reasons why they wanted to take it away from him. I understand that they put security measures around this also. They didn't want anyone tracking him.
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post #8 of 12
1/23/09 at 7:57am
My thoughts are if someone wants to hack in and gain access to someone's information, even the smartest and strongest firewalls won't keep them out. I believe even the CIA's computers had been hacked into a couple times.

I don't doubt that we'll eventually hear that Obama's computer system/blackberry security has been compromised in some way.

But it's good to see that they are keeping up with the times. Eventually everything will be computerized anyway, so what's the point of putting off the inevitable?
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post #9 of 12
1/23/09 at 9:26am
I think I read or heard that they had to find a way to encrypt everything AND cloak its ID or whereabouts. One concern was that a clever programmer could know exactly where the President was virtually all the time.

My bet would be that after a week or two, he'll decide he doesn't need it and doesn't have time for it.
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post #10 of 12
1/23/09 at 10:30am
Whew, now I can sleep at night, Obama gets to keep his beloved Blackberry.
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post #11 of 12
1/23/09 at 1:52pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by emrldsky View Post
Encryption is one thing...let's just hope Obama doesn't leave it somewhere. I think THAT was one of the biggest concerns, but if he has a "Blackberry wrangler" on his team, that could eliminate that problem.

And yes, I pulled "Blackberry wrangler" out of thin air, lol.
Blackberry's can be remotely wiped, so not an issue if it gets in the wrong hands.
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post #12 of 12
1/24/09 at 10:13am
Awww, it's probably not even a Blackberry. So much for the sales bump for them.

http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/...op-secret-pda/
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