Slashdot Mirror


Solving Obama's BlackBerry Dilemma

CurtMonash writes "Much is being made of the deliberations as to whether President Obama will be able to keep using his beloved "BarackBerry." As the NYTimes details, there are two major sets of objections: infosecurity and legal/records retention. Deven Coldeway of CrunchGear does a good job of showing that the technological infosecurity problems can be solved. And as I've noted elsewhere, the 'Omigod, he left his Blackberry behind at dinner' issue is absurd. Presidents are surrounded by attendants, Secret Service and otherwise. Somebody just has to be given the job of keeping track of the president's personal communication device. As for the legal question of whether the president can afford to put things in writing that will likely be exposed by courts and archivists later — the answer to that surely depends on the subject matter or recipient. Email to his Chicago friends — why not? Anything he'd write to them would be necessarily non-secret anyway. Email to the Secretary of Defense? That might be a different matter."

4 of 374 comments (clear)

  1. Re:research in motion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    The one major issue with thi... RIM is a foreign company.

    That can be solved. Once Obama pulls all the troops back from Iraq, they can invade Canada. :-)

  2. Re:research in motion by saforrest · · Score: 5, Funny

    Pffft, easier said than done. If you think an Iraqi insurgent with an IED is a tough adversary just wait until you see a Canadian with a hockey stick...

    That, and we maintain a threatening lead in Zamboni technology!

  3. Re:Who Cares? by larry+bagina · · Score: 5, Funny

    Actually, Bill Clinton used one. Here's a clue: Monica Lewinsky with the blackberry in vibrate mode in the oval office.

    --
    Do you even lift?

    These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.

  4. Re:Who Cares? by mazarin5 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Monica Lewinsky with the blackberry in vibrate mode in the oval office.

    Dammit, I was so sure it was Colonel Mustard.

    --
    Fnord.