

Obama: "They’re going to pry [the BlackBerry] out of my hands." - bdotdub
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/us/politics/08berry.html

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AndrewWarner
I hope he gets to keep the BB. We can't have a system that keeps technology
away from our leaders. I did an interview with political consultants who told
me their clients in congress had to fight to get access to Twitter. Our
representatives shouldn't have to fight to stay in touch with the world.

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josefresco
I could really give a crap whether or not he keeps his friggin' Blackberry.

I'm a little more concerned with how he handles pressing issues like our
failing economy, safety, and health care.

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JayNeely
So if he handles them in a way you're dissatisfied with, you'd rather him be
further insulated from the opinions, suggestions, and questions of the public?

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kenver
I think it's incredible that given the entire resources of the American state
they can't give the president secure access to his email.

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jmtulloss
... Through Canadian servers :).

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biohacker42
With good crypto the server could be in Iran and it wouldn't matter.

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iigs
I disagree. There's a big difference between having the ciphertext and having
nothing. Big keys buy you time but that's just it -- it's time. Government
secrets often outlive the design parameters of commercial crypto by decades.

To me it's surprising he gets a commercial cellular/smartphone at all. As much
as we all just assume the systems are private and secure, it's really just not
that way.

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snprbob86
Am I the only one who finds it odd that the President will have to _fight_
over whether or not he can do something in his personal life? It seems to me
that if we believe him to be intelligent enough to run the country, we must
assume he is intelligent enough to override a decision about his personal
safety.

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jmtulloss
If it was just his personal life, then sure. He uses his blackberry for far
more than just personal stuff though.

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dag
This strikes me as being a PR thing - Obama being a 'man of the people' while
accepting that it's a good thing because the emails would be discoverable.

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gojomo
He can sneak a few emails on the side like cigarettes.

