Blackberry In White House?
By CraftyCorner
@CraftyCorner (5600)
United States
January 18, 2009 8:59pm CST
There may be a Blackberry in the White House. Soon to be President Obama is well known to be a 'Crackberry' addict and is 'fighting' hard to get his smartphone into the White House. He wants the close connection such an Internet 2.0 gadget gives him to the people.
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Smart phones are a security risk that gives the Secret Service belly aches. Blackberries come with tracking devices, viruses, and malware.
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A tentative agreement between the President 2.0 and the nervous Secret Service is a Blackberry for personal use and a special Secret Service mobile palm computer that's rather like a brick for business purposes.
4 responses
@jonesy123 (3948)
• United States
19 Jan 09
I think the issue is less the malware, etc than the possibility of him firing off an email or do something other that might have an inconvenient content. Everything is being recorded. Simply don't need another scandal. As president, private use and business use is hard to distinguish. If he wanted to, yes, he could use his blackberry, whenever, wherever, but he has to be aware of what can eventually be turned against him in the court of public opinion;)
2 people like this
@CraftyCorner (5600)
• United States
19 Jan 09
There will be staff assigned to keep the PDA's cleaned of malware. The beloved Blackberry will have a sitter to keep the crap off, and it won't be doing the bulk of the Presidential super secret stuff like talking to Putin.
http://news.cnet.com/obamas-new-blackberry-the-nsas-secure-pda/
@Savvynlady (3684)
• United States
19 Jan 09
Great!! I was feeling for the President Elect on that because to be honest, he waged his campaign on that Blackberry and I'd hate to know that the poor man can't get on his blackberry no more. I hope that that works out.
2 people like this
@CraftyCorner (5600)
• United States
19 Jan 09
I can see a Secret Service agent being assigned Blackberry sitter.
@Taskr36 (13963)
• United States
19 Jan 09
I'm really sick of this arrogance over a blackberry. He's acting like a child that doesn't want to give up a toy. IT'S A SECURITY RISK. This isn't about HIM, it's about the freaking country. He needs to stop thinking like a teenager and start thinking as a public servant which is exactly what the president is supposed to be.
1 person likes this
@murderistic (2278)
• United States
19 Jan 09
If tracking is an issue, I'm sure Blackberry wouldn't mind making a special blackberry nix the tracking device. Obama won't be driving much so I'm sure he'll be okay without GPS. And the thing about blackberrys is that they are computers, so I'm sure the security measures taken on any white house computer will be taken on the blackberry. Honestly it seems like a pain, but so do most things the secret service does to protect the president, and I don't see why the president shouldn't have a Blackberry as long as the right security measures were being taken.
1 person likes this
@CraftyCorner (5600)
• United States
21 Jan 09
I like the fact Obama's actively fighting the White House Fish Bowl effect which ate Bush's presidency alive.
