FOR THOSE WHO ARE LAZY BUMS AND THINK IT'S TL;DR , SUMMARY: Presidents are not allowed to have devices, as it poses a cyber threat, and people can intercept emails etc. Obama is a crackberry addict, and does most of his shit digitally on his blackberry. He may be asked to forfeit it as he takes office. Also, please don't just vote, please offer opinion as well. source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/us/politics/16blackberry.html I know this is a November 15th, 2008 article, but I was surprised to see it not posted here. This actually poses a very fascinating controversial issue that should be discussed. Should Presidents be allowed to have a laptop and a device?
Can someone just like tell me the article quickly... I don't understand why the president can't have his blackberry... I read something about security.. was that what it was about...? If it is, it's retarded... *Sorry for my lazyness
Because if it's known that he uses one, every international intelligence agency would devote billions of dollars and thousands of man hours, just to hack into it. The chances that they will succeed is actually pretty good if you consider that school kids can routinely hack into US military servers. It's about national security; just like you won't let the US President walk by himself through Afghanistan, because he wouldn't last five minutes without getting shot, you're not going to let him use a device that you know will compromise your national security. No amount of "Aw... but, I wanna..." should be entertained. This isn't about having a president who is tech savvy or not, it's about national security. And if he clings to his Blackberry despite the risks, then he's an ass; I would personally welcome blogs that will inevitably post his messages detailing his discussions on sensitive issues just to show him to be the techno blinded fool that he is.
^ honestly, i think it should be allowed to be balanced. For example, I completely agree that his usage of electronic devices poses a national security risk in terms of sensitive documents being tracked. BUT, the key words here are "sensitive documents". A President is forbid to use any electronic devices, for any purpose, even personal, and entertainment purposes. It's the 21st century, it will be inevitable when the time comes that paper and pen no longer exist. Sooner or later, a future President will be using devices. So why not sooner? Granted one should not take the drastic step of transitioning completely to digital, in terms of classified and top secret documents, but at least the first step of allowing the President to communicate digitally for personal use. He's going to have to stick with paper and pen for governing purposes, but for harmless communication between family and friends, who gives a shit if it falls into the wrong hands? It wont give up any secrets, because there is nothing secret to begin with. OH NOES! THE PRESIDENT TEXTED "SOX!" TO HIS FRIENDS! THE WORLD IS GOING TO DIE. Sorry for the sarcasm, but do you see where I'm going?
look what happen to paris hilton she got haxor and all her contacts stolen and msgs posted on the net! that can ruin a presidents career too. using a black berry isnt secure enough to risk his career
I could care less about Obama's career (he, like all presidents, is nothing more than a public servant); I care more about national security.
Communicating electronically will possibly allow another entity to track his movements. Even if the electronic contents of his messages are benign and or meaningless, his transmission each time leaves a unique electronic signature that can be tracked. The US had used such technology to track Pablo Escobar (the former Colombian drug lord that was killed). It's not what you say; the fact that you spoke means that I now know where you are. Signal intelligence gathering is something that the US, Russia, China, etc have done for years. People mistakenly think that the message is the only vulnerable aspect when even the methods one chooses can reveal a wealth of data to one's enemies. Repeated usage of electronic transmission devices alongside a know source (the president's blackberry) means that I can now get an idea of what where his security detail is, how they communicate, who key figures are. All of these things will take time but this is how intelligence gathering works. As a matter of fact, the US has entire farms of listening posts on South Korean Islands that do nothing but listen to DPRK radio and telephone communications, and have been doing so for years. We also have the same thing in Mongolia, listening to China and Russia. An electronic "HERE I AM" device for the US president is a national security risk. Oh, an BTW, for those of you out there that don't believe this, the police can actually request (with a court order) your phone company to send a signal to your cell phone and get it to triangulate your location. This is how they routinely find lost hikers in the woods, etc. Just imagine what a foreign intelligence service can do if they put their mind to it; scary shit, eh? I'm not being sarcastic, but do you see where I'm going? In today's news: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7820984.stm
^ I know where you're going with this, and I don't disagree at all. BUT, that should still not forbid him the use of digital devices. For example, let's set aside communication technologies. I haven't thought of how to go about that safely yet. Take for example documents he would like to review. By allowing him to review them on an offline only device, he can still use a digital device for such a viewing, and when he wants to have it printed, send it etc etc, he can have his people upload his copy of the document into a computer and have his people do the work as to send it to who ever. All the data transfer occurs through USB cable, so no wires or cables to intercept. If he wants to send something, upload that message via cable, and have another person send it for him. He is not the one who is sending something, but another person in his team. These bypassing layers makes it hard for interception. I mean, I just came up with this right now, but experts can definitely come up with things better than me. If he isn't allowed online, fine, but offline poses much less problems.
I believe that president Obama should be allowed to at least have his laptop to use while he is in office. While it may be possible to hack into his email or his computer it shouldn't matter because the president wouldn't be inputting top secret documents in there and he shouldn't be involved in corrupt activites that would bring him down if it got out anyway.
