Barack Obama
U.S. President-Elect Barack Obama has been known to be a fervent BlackBerry user, continually keeping up to date with his extensive political and personal network while on the campaign trail, but that lifestyle may be shortly coming to an end now that he’s on the way to the White House and faces a wide variety of security concerns, including the Presidential Records Act, which puts all of his communications (e-mail and otherwise) in the public domain. As a result, any information communicated via BlackBerry (or e-mail, for that matter) could be viable ammunition for press looking to embarass the President. Of course, no sensitive information is ever sent over BlackBerry within governments – typically there is a dedicated secure address where the meat and potatoes of top secret work is done. This move is strictly to save political face, and aides believe it’s a necessary one.
Now, as far as I’m concerned, it would be a crying shame for Obama to lose his BlackBerry. He has already established himself as a tech-savvy and forward-thinking prez with rumours of him being the first U.S. head of state to have a computer in the Oval Office, tweeting regularly, and even having weekly addresses via YouTube. Using a BlackBerry would be just one more way Obama could break the mould for the better. It would be a mark of confidence to continue to use his BlackBerry and e-mail, despite paparazzi snooping around his Outbox. Heck, this guy has credibility in spades – any dirt press managed to dig up wouldn’t stick for long.
[via NYTimes]