Obama may be able to keep his BlackBerry after all

A Secret Service agent moves to retrieve the president-elect's BlackBerry at Reagan National Airport on January 16, 2009.

(Credit: AFP PHOTO/Mandel NGAN)

Forget the important task of opening up government. Never mind a recession that seems to be trying hard to be promoted to a full-scale depression. In geekish circles, the question of the week has been: Will President Obama manage to hang on to his BlackBerry?

Obama told us more than a year ago that it was his favorite gadget, and he was rarely without it during the 2008 campaign. In 2001, George Bush famously gave up e-mail, and there was plenty of speculation that Obama would too, either for privacy or open-government reasons. Last week, we suggested the Sectera Edge as a secure PDA-phone--it's rated for SECRET data and TOP SECRET voice--that might do the trick.

Now we're hearing from a report on The Atlantic's Web site that Obama will be able to keep his BlackBerry after all. Apparently it's been outfitted with encrypted software secure enough for routine personal messages--meaning, if this report is true, there will be no Microsoft Windows Mobile in the president's immediate future.

We're still waiting, by the way, to hear back from the National Security Agency. They said they'd be happy to entertain questions from us, and it's been over a week. We're not holding our breath.

[mediocrates--2008]

"Never mind a recession that seems to be trying hard to be promoted to a full-scale depression."

Oh enough already, Declan! Depression my cherry-red ass! How many homeless families were living in tent-city "Hoovervilles" down at the Mall yesterday during the inauguration?

[declan00]

mediocrates: When was the last time we had such a towering crisis on Wall Street? When was the last time the stock market fell by so much so quickly--something like 45 percent in roughly one year? When was the last time housing prices fell so far so far? When was the last time a recession lasted more than 18 months?*

The answer is, of course, the Great Depression. Note I'm not saying we're in a depression. All that line was meant to convey (and everyone else seemed to have understood it) is that this is a severe recession. I think by now that this is self-evident.

* = Ours will have lasted longer than 18 months come May-June 2009.

[karpenterskids]

I'm sure the Blackberry people are loving all this free advertising. :p

[sharmajunior]

LOL.....at the phrase "there will no Microsoft Windows Mobile in the president's immediate future"

[brunp]

Blackberry people --> Research In Motion (RIM) based in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

[Kev_Orng]

My hometown!

See, Obama is good for everybody! We can't wait for him to bring up NAFTA, as well; we have a few changes we'd like to make too.

[8ball629]

"I'm sure the Blackberry people are loving all this free advertising. :p"

What's a Blackberry?


... my point exactly.


If you still don't get it - who doesn't know what a Blackberry is?

[htcstech]

Check out how thick the rear door is on 'The Beast'!
Also the roof lining looks might heavy too!
Looks like he dropped 2 things....

[MitchatGWAVA]

It is abundantly clear that Obama has fought as hard for his BlackBerry as he has for the Presidency. Our company: GWAVA has reached out to his office with a solution to the entire issue of monitoring exactly what he is texting and what people are texting him.

Our solution will allow the appropriate security level people to archive and audit all of this data securely and at the same time securely control who has access to this data.

Obama has said: "I want to Retain all of my text messages. This will allow me to keep my phone" Our software will allow him to do this and at the same time will satisfy all the security needs of his administration.

[celticbrewer]

Mitch, I appreciate the thought, but do you really think your company's software is bulletproof? I can just hope that Obama doesn't use his BB at all for anything sensitive. If people want to get at that data, I am positive they'll find a way to do it. Intercepting wireless is fairly easy and given enough time and computational power, any encryption can be broken- and that's the hardest angle to crack this data- there's other easier avenues to attack.

[Kev_Orng]

Blackberry or no, the main question has not been answered: that is, who, exactly, gives a f@#k?

[Seaspray0]

The NSA gives a f@#k. Perhaps alot of the general public doesn't, but we're not the ones that count. The last time I flew a plane, I said to the spouse, "Remember, we'll be safe because we're being protected by the NSA." Perhaps I shouldn't have said that while the spouse was drinking a soda... the bubbles can burn when they shoot out of your nose.

[Kev_Orng]

Ha ha! Yes, I hear you. The NSA gives a f@#k, but since they don't communicate with each through Cnet, CNN, and the frikkin Toronto Star, except maybe in coded messages (yeah, maybe), then I really wonder why people are so interested. What's next, are we going to have a week of articles on whether the man scratches his butt with his hand or the end of a pencil? That's for the Royal Butt Scratchers to discuss, I, for one, don't give a f@#k!

:)