Obama can't e-mail

[bascule]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/11/17/obama.blackberry.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

 

This doesn't really make sense to me. They're concerned about the president's security and trackability when using a wireless communication device. Haven't all those untold trillions of DoD dollars produced a solution to this problem? I can see why the government would be paranoid about the president using a Blackberry, but seriously, isn't there some crazy satellite-based e-mail system that the US could equip the president with?

 

As for tracking all the president's e-mail, just have that crazy device talk to Whitehouse e-mail servers which are compliant with government regulations.

 

I'm surprised this is an issue and think if a President wants to take advantage of these tools he damn well ought to be able to.

[ecoli]

seems like a weird scenario to me... Obama's email correspondance is public record, but what about phone and other letters? why is email any different?

[Pangloss]

Well as it says at the end, he can ultimately do it if he wants to. The founding fathers certainly wrote a lot of correspondence. I think the problem with legally-discoverable evidence is more about the current political climate than anything else. Maybe he should reject that problem outright and opt for transparency. (As for the physical security issue, the article doesn't seem to really go into that, but if there's an issue there it can surely be addressed with various specific tactics.)

[Mr Skeptic]

"The president's e-mail can be subpoenaed by Congress and courts and may be subject to public records laws, so if a president doesn't want his e-mail public, he shouldn't e-mail, experts said."

 

He can use it but I guess that he has to be careful not to put stupid things through, nor behave badly enough to be subpoenaed. It's not like anyone can just subpoena him. In any case, I'd say that avoiding something to avoid a legal process would be mighty suspicious and should not be encouraged. Perhaps we need to upgrade our subpoena laws, not downgrade our technology.

 

Personally, I'd configure my blackberry to transmit data via a phone call.

[Phi for All]

(As for the physical security issue, the article doesn't seem to really go into that, but if there's an issue there it can surely be addressed with various specific tactics.)

If someone had his cell number, could that be used to pinpoint his location? Or is it that he may stop to text or email too often and his security detail can't keep him moving the way they'd like?

[bascule]

If someone had his cell number, could that be used to pinpoint his location? Or is it that he may stop to text or email too often and his security detail can't keep him moving the way they'd like?

 

If he were using a typical cell provider and a regular handset, probably. Many handsets now embed GPS, so if you were to hack their phone tracking their location becomes trivial, not to mention a multitude of approaches you could use setting up your own GSM station or using radio direction finding.

 

That's why I'm suggesting the President be hooked up with the latest military hardware for securely and discretely sending e-mail, all of which can communicate with government-provided handset which uses spread spectrum satellite communications with the latest cryptography and so forth, and all his e-mail going through White House servers that log all messages per the appropriate regulations.

 

I don't see a technological reason why the president should be denied e-mail.

[iNow]

That's why I'm suggesting the President be hooked up with the latest military hardware for securely and discretely sending e-mail, all of which can communicate with government-provided handset which uses spread spectrum satellite communications with the latest cryptography and so forth, and all his e-mail going through White House servers that log all messages per the appropriate regulations.

 

I don't see a technological reason why the president should be denied e-mail.

That's probably exactly what will happen. The technology works fine for our guys and gals in the service and on the ground, no reason the Prez wouldn't be able to use it, too.

[ecoli]

They changed their minds, apparently: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/us_elections_2008/7846232.stm

[iNow]

I imagine he said, "Look, I'm your commander in chief, and I WILL be using my blackberry. It's up to you find a way to secure it. Report back when you have some options on how to do so. Dismissed."

[ecoli]

but he's not commander-in-chief of the intertubes!

[The Bear's Key]

Excellent. A president not trapped in a bubble. He might even one day stumble upon our discussions here

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28780205/wid/11915829?GT1=40006

 

The president has been adamant about continuing to use a BlackBerry, which has Internet and e-mail access

 

The BlackBerry's symbolism and use is key to Obama personally. "I think he believes it’s a way of keeping in touch with folks," and not "getting stuck in a bubble," said Gibbs, who added he has received e-mails from Obama in the past that range from "very strictly business, to why did my football team perform so miserably on any given Saturday or any given Sunday?

 

Obama views the connection to the outside world as vital, seeing it as a tool to help him “stay in touch with the flow of everyday life,” he said on NBC’s “Today” show recently.

 

“I've been working with Barack Obama since before the election, and I know that without his virtual connection to old friends and trusted confidants beyond the bubble that seals off every president from the people who elected him, he'd be like a caged lion padding restlessly around the West Wing, wondering what's happening on the other side of the iron bars that surround the People's House,” Podesta wrote.

All this makes him a very different President already.