I thought he used an iphone....

wait a minute....the laws are actually preventing the president from being easily accessible and available?

Bush gave up email too.

Wait, being President means no BB use? There goes my hopes for running in 2012. Just ain't worth it.

"Yo biatch, check my schedule for next Tuesday"

You don't need a crackberry when you've got biatches to take care of shiat like that.

So what they are saying is that the POTUS's electronic communication shouldn't route through Canada?

Guy will have 5 secretaries, unlikely he'll need a BB.

Eddie Adams from Torrance: "Yo biatch, check my schedule for next Tuesday"

You don't need a crackberry when you've got biatches to take care of shiat like that.

This.

I mean with the most secure and technologically advanced communications system at his beck and call (if not exactly at *his* fingertips) who needs a BB?

But he IS a black Barry. You can't just arbitrarily ban someone from the presidency like that!

Maybe he's trading it in for a WhiteBerry.

he's goin old school

Weak headline, subby.

Mr. Obama is the second president to grapple with the idea of this self-imposed isolation. Three days before his first inauguration, George W. Bush sent a message to 42 friends and relatives that explained his predicament.

"Since I do not want my private conversations looked at by those out to embarrass, the only course of action is not to correspond in cyberspace," Mr. Bush wrote from his old address, G94Bloacom. "This saddens me. I have enjoyed conversing with each of you."

Folks, we have an explanation for the shiatty last eight years.

The US elected an AOL user as President!

I can't believe Bush actually talks like that.

Word trading indeed, Mister Commander in Chief.

odinsposse: But he IS a black Barry. You can't just arbitrarily ban someone from the presidency like that!

*ZING!*

Anyhow ... the security risks of the Presidential 'Berry falling into the wrong hands or getting Haxxored are just too great, i am sure.

ceejayoz: Mr. Obama is the second president to grapple with the idea of this self-imposed isolation. Three days before his first inauguration, George W. Bush sent a message to 42 friends and relatives that explained his predicament.

"Since I do not want my private conversations looked at by those out to embarrass, the only course of action is not to correspond in cyberspace," Mr. Bush wrote from his old address, G94Bloacom. "This saddens me. I have enjoyed conversing with each of you."

Folks, we have an explanation for the shiatty last eight years.

The US elected an AOL user as President!

Ha - yeah, I saw that and immediately facepalmed so hard that I bruised the bridge of my nose.

Edsel: ceejayoz: Mr. Obama is the second president to grapple with the idea of this self-imposed isolation. Three days before his first inauguration, George W. Bush sent a message to 42 friends and relatives that explained his predicament.

"Since I do not want my private conversations looked at by those out to embarrass, the only course of action is not to correspond in cyberspace," Mr. Bush wrote from his old address, G94Bloacom. "This saddens me. I have enjoyed conversing with each of you."

Folks, we have an explanation for the shiatty last eight years.

The US elected an AOL user as President!

Ha - yeah, I saw that and immediately facepalmed so hard that I bruised the bridge of my nose.

Well, at least he actually gave up his AOL account when he was elected. That's already one step ahead of Sarah "Do you Yahoo?" Palin.

TwistedFark: Well, at least he actually gave up his AOL account when he was elected.

Once an AOL user, always an AOL user.

RadiomanATL: I mean with the most secure and technologically advanced communications system at his beck and call (if not exactly at *his* fingertips) who needs a BB?

Is it beckon call?

/don't know if it's 'hear, hear' or 'here, here'.

Huh? That doesn't make sense. BB emails are journal, so i don't see why this is a problem.

phenn: RadiomanATL: I mean with the most secure and technologically advanced communications system at his beck and call (if not exactly at *his* fingertips) who needs a BB?

Is it beckon call?

/don't know if it's 'hear, hear' or 'here, here'.

It's "hear, hear." The original version was "hear him, hear him," in the sense of "Listen to what he's saying!"

/history geek

Blackberry PIN messages then?

RadiomanATL: I mean with the most secure and technologically advanced communications system at his beck and call (if not exactly at *his* fingertips) who needs a BB?

It's not that he "can't have a Blackberry," it's that neither he nor any other President can have a simple e-mail address - even a strictly personal one that paid for out of his own pocket - without having to archive damn near everything from national security directives to Amazon.com order confirmations, all releasable to every jackass activist or Congresscritter who can wangle a subpoena. All because Nixon tried to play cute with his records after Watergate - WHEN THERE WAS NO SUCH THING AS E-MAIL. (I don't have the case in front of me, but some D.C. Circuit judge declared all presidential e-mails to be "public records.")

If we applied the same standards in the Presidential Records Act to members of Congress, they'd all be squealing like stuck pigs. (And boy, would I like to see some of their e-mails!) But that doesn't change the fact that all of these people, though they are elected officials and in the public eye, are still human beings and citizens who have not given up their right to have private conversations, private e-mails, and private thoughts.

/helpful and enlightening book on the subject

MasterThief: If we applied the same standards in the Presidential Records Act to members of Congress, they'd all be squealing like stuck pigs. (And boy, would I like to see some of their e-mails!) But that doesn't change the fact that all of these people, though they are elected officials and in the public eye, are still human beings and citizens who have not given up their right to have private conversations, private e-mails, and private thoughts.

Time has shown that if given the chance any public official will use these private means of communication for public business when they don't want it on the record. If they don't like it, they don't have to run for election. I think we should apply these standards to all government officials. They are our employees after all.

PRMPA doesn't preclude email as long as you archive it and put it in the library when the administration's over, basically. With Exchange or Lotus Notes this should not be an issue.

The real concern with the Blackberry would be that all the emails go through Canada, but they don't want to say that for political reasons.

In other words, he really just needs an iPhone and a willingness not to delete stuff.

The military has all sorts of communications gadgets / methods. He'll probably be using one of them.

They can just feed his calls through his secret service earpiece.

phenn:

Is it beckon call?

/don't know if it's 'hear, hear' or 'here, here'.


It's beck and call. Here is a link that describes the difference.

Wormsign: Time has shown that if given the chance any public official will use these private means of communication for public business when they don't want it on the record. If they don't like it, they don't have to run for election. I think we should apply these standards to all government officials. They are our employees after all.

The hell you say ^.

Ah fark it, I'm gonna hate myself for it, but some liter has to do it:

Then who was phone?

Security with Blackberry phones isn't such an issue, though I do agree with the Farker who mentioned their routing being connected with Canada may have something to do with it. In reality, a CDMA Blackberry has a 256-bit encrypted communications link, and what I imagine to be at least 128-bit encryption on RIM's side of things (the people who make Blackberry). They can also be locked so that after a few false passwords, the phone is purged of info. That and the fact of just how hard it would be to steal the president's cellphone. It's all about stuff falling into public record people.

phenn: don't know if it's 'hear, hear' or 'here, here'.

maybe it's hear here, as opposed to hear there

/which is different from they're here

legendary: Guy will have 5 secretaries, unlikely he'll need a BB.

Seriously.

He will not have secretaries, he will have biatches.

1) GPG
2) Waterproof USB drive around his neck
3) Tempest proof room
= Done done and done

GoGoGo: wait a minute....the laws are actually preventing the president from being easily accessible and available?

How easily accessible and available does he need to be when it's unlikely any POTUS is ever more than 10 feet from a Secret Service agent, secretary, or other staff.

Anywhere the President travels has full communications so he can respond to any issue no matter where he is. Trying to type crap out on a BB for someone in that position is redundant and a waste of his time. He will just dictate to someone and they'll send the message much faster.

If the President had a (presumably anonymous) FARK account, would all his FARK postings be archived for public records?

I don't think I could survive for 4 or 8 years without email, even with an entire staff around me. I know I couldn't survive without posting in online forums and blogs.

One of the advantages of being the POTUS is being able to have empty pockets at all times.

whenIsayGO: If the President had a (presumably anonymous) FARK account, would all his FARK postings be archived for public records?

I don't think I could survive for 4 or 8 years without email, even with an entire staff around me. I know I couldn't survive without posting in online forums and blogs.

If the President has enough free time to be posting on Fark, he probably shouldn't be President.

Unless we've all gotten our puppies and unicorns, and maybe not even then.

It's because people have so far failed to realise that e-mail is about as secure and reliable as scribbling notes on bathroom walls.

Then again, that might appeal to some in the GOP.

Perhaps he should get a Whiteberry.

That sucks; I was looking forward to getting his PIN.


/Blackberry Bold user

First he gave up smokes, now Crackberry. Are you sure it's worth it, bro?

um, who cares?

archonwarp: Security with Blackberry phones isn't such an issue, though I do agree with the Farker who mentioned their routing being connected with Canada may have something to do with it. In reality, a CDMA Blackberry has a 256-bit encrypted communications link, and what I imagine to be at least 128-bit encryption on RIM's side of things (the people who make Blackberry). They can also be locked so that after a few false passwords, the phone is purged of info. That and the fact of just how hard it would be to steal the president's cellphone. It's all about stuff falling into public record people.

Presumably, if POTUS were on a Blackberry, the incentive to break that encryption or otherwise get around it would be quite overwhelming. Put the entire state resources of China, Russia, etc. behind it... The reward for such a hack would be too high to overlook. It's nearly impossible to imagine that it wouldn't be tried.

Hey, I have an idea!

Maybe he could just NOT DO ANYTHING ILLEGAL ON IT?

The fact that this doesn't even seem to have occurred to anyone saddens me beyond description.