Obama: Don't toss that Blackberry

A commenter to a Josh Bernoff Groundswell blog post wonders: What the heck happened to @Obama? The busily tweeting campaigner -- or his staff, more likely -- has gone silent since Nov. 5. The obvious answer: THE GUY WON, that's what happened. It turns out the president-elect will likely surrender his Blackberry, since he is now, well, the president elect. The New York Times reports:

In addition to concerns about e-mail security, he faces the Presidential Records Act, which puts his correspondence in the official record and ultimately up for public review, and the threat of subpoenas. A decision has not been made on whether he could become the first e-mailing president, but aides said that seemed doubtful.

Which is just insanity.

Dale McFeaters of Scripps Howard News Service offers some sense:

This means that as Obama's presidency goes on, the information presented to him will be increasingly prescreened and predigested. And his handlers will naturally want him to appear only before friendly audiences. In the natural course of events, he will be cut off from what the rest of us like to call "the real world."

Doesn't sound like Change We Need, eh? But get used to it. This is an utterly unchangeable state of affairs. Based on life as we live it today, anyway. That's because all presidents' enemies, of all parties and advocacy groups, love to sue. And sue and sue. Want a president who actually can use the basic tools of communication the rest of us use, while not fearing that each word could lead to his downfall? Congress would need to immediately institute serious reform of the entire legal culture in this country, top to bottom. Then: It needs to build a strong zone of legal privilege around all communications from the executive branch.

All of which is a fantasy, of course, and would likely be opposed immediately by the loudest voices on all sides. And is likely just bad policy anyway.

But is there another, simpler way around this?

CNET privacy and security blogger Chris Soghoian asks: Why should Obama give in to this sorry state of affairs?

If the next president opts to use e-mail, it will almost certainly become part of the public record at some point. However, that lack of e-mail privacy is far more a feature than a bug.

Without being able to follow the paper trails, and see what is being said by whom in the White House, how can real oversight be achieved? The willingness of the next president to use e-mail (and even a smartphone), even with the knowledge that his messages might later be subpoenaed by Congress, will be the best way for him to demonstrate his belief in the importance of sunlight.

So can we actually believe that such a risky move is possible from an American president-to-be whose ass is now on the hot seat on such issues who has yapped on endlessly for months about how his administration will lead a plugged-in federal government to new heights of transparency?

Yes We Can!

Lead us, Mr. President-elect, into the sunlight!

[Ruth Marcus from the Washington Post writes: Let Obama keep his Blackberry! Great comments too.]

[Municipalist update here.]

Comments

[betsy]

I think one of the issues with the Blackberry (how much must the company love this story?) is that it has wireless information that can be hacked. I also heard something about GPS (I don't have a Blackberry, so I have no idea). Also, and I know this is outlandish, but he really does need to be protected from every possible threat, the Blackberry would have to be either in his possession or at least watched constantly.