Obama Keeps His Blackberry (And Gets a Sectera) 365
InternetVoting writes "After all the controversy surrounding Obama's Blackberry, word has come that he will get to keep it. Few details are available and neither the National Security Agency nor the White House are talking. The current rumor is that the Blackberry will be used exclusively for personal use and a Sectera Edge will be used for official communications."
And... (Score:5, Informative)
Wondering what a Sectera is? (Score:5, Informative)
So was I. It's a "Secure Mobile Environment Portable Electronic Device", it's made by General Dynamics, and you can read more about it here [gdc4s.com].
Re:Should be interesting... (Score:5, Informative)
I can buy the top secret nature of the device. That is a legitimate concern. I also agree that his safety is important.
But to not have a personal device because he is the "President" is pure crap! Since when did the "President" become royalty? So what that he is the leader of the USA, he is just another HUMAN...
And I am tempted to believe he thinks the same way.
The argument of the president having aides is exactly the problem of royalty and how their heads were cut off. When a human surrounds themselves with "aides" they surround themselves with "yes-men".
What I think Obama wants is to not loose contact to the people who got him into office in the first place. And THAT I find commendable.
I actually have a real problem with the need for "security" in a government where I elected them. The government is the people, and I want complete transparency. The government asks transparency of the financial community, and the car industry. Where is the transparency of the government?
I happen to like direct democracy because it keeps the politicians close to the people.
Update (Score:5, Informative)
I know its not popular here, but if you RTFA and pay attention to other news sources, you'll find out that the NSA has modified Obama's Blackberry to the point that they are satisfied with it. Good enough for me.
Re:So, all this talk about Bush emails and... (Score:3, Informative)
ls -1 | awk '{ if ( length($1) > 2000 ) printf "%s\t%s\n", $1, length($1)}'
Is there something like format-table for UNIX? I've never looked for such a thing.
Re:Should be interesting... (Score:1, Informative)
Now, you can debate the accuracy of the claim that Obama is a Socialist, the efficacy of limited Socialism (Canada and many european countries), and in the end whether Rush's fears were warranted, but this insistence that bombastic personalities like Rush and O'Reily actually want the president, and by extension the US, to fail is useless demagoguery. No American truly wants America to fail (with the possible exception of Chomsky, he scares me).
The sooner people start to realize that the opposition party is just as patriotic, just with a different opinion on the best way to proceed, the sooner we can "Move beyond Politics" as most of Obama's supporters claim he has.
Re:National Security (Score:3, Informative)
assuming that He is connecting to a BES, and not using the BIS service, His traffic is encrypted by a key held by the BES in question and cannot be intercepted.
I am going to assume that the President isn't using a hotmail (etc) account, so is probably using a BES.
Just because the server resides in another country doesn't mean the data is more or less exposed. The data would pass through a number of intermediate networks before reaching Canada, which could also be intercepted. Simply crossing a border doesn't inherently make things worse. In fact, it may make things better. I believe that we (I am also Canadian) have better privacy laws than the US does...
$0.02.
Re:Should be interesting... (Score:5, Informative)
Rush Limbaugh is quoted on record as saying he wants Obama to fail, and is proud of it.
TRANSCRIPT
"If I wanted Obama to succeed, I'd be happy the Republicans have laid down. And I would be encouraging Republicans to lay down and support him. Look, what he's talking about is the absorption of as much of the private sector by the US government as possible, from the banking business, to the mortgage industry, the automobile business, to health care. I do not want the government in charge of all of these things. I don't want this to work. So I'm thinking of replying to the guy, "Okay, I'll send you a response, but I don't need 400 words, I need four: I hope he fails." (interruption) What are you laughing at? See, here's the point. Everybody thinks it's outrageous to say. Look, even my staff, "Oh, you can't do that." Why not? Why is it any different, what's new, what is unfair about my saying I hope liberalism fails? Liberalism is our problem. Liberalism is what's gotten us dangerously close to the precipice here. Why do I want more of it? I don't care what the Drive-By story is. I would be honored if the Drive-By Media headlined me all day long: "Limbaugh: I Hope Obama Fails." Somebody's gotta say it. "
END TRANSCRIPT
Re:National Security (Score:3, Informative)
Re:So, all this talk about Bush emails and... (Score:4, Informative)
The tax cheat is getting the pass because he's the only guy in the Federal Reserve that correctly forecast the financial meltdown BEFORE it took place. In another time, there's no way he gets the nomination, but, since the whole economy is melting down, being the smartest guy in the room actually matters more than paying your taxes on time.
Re:Should be interesting... (Score:5, Informative)
The don't broadcast their GPS location, but they are in continuous communication with several cell controllers so they can hand over seamlessly as you move from cell to cell. And as they do so, they automatically regulate their transmit power level so that it only just reaches the controller, in order to minimise spill-over to other cells and hence minimise the number of bufer cells before you can re-use the same frequencies.
And, since power is inversely proportion to the square of distance, that actually means the cell controller knows how far away you are. Three such controllers, you can triangulate and find out where you are. And this happens all the time.
Used by the police in the UK when two girls were murdered. One of their mobile phones was last switched off outside the murderers house.
The Presidential Sex Tapes... (Score:1, Informative)
I can see where this is going! You want more porn!