As Internet-based Presidential communication expands radically during the Obama administration, we’re tracking email, social networking, peer-to-peer networking, security risks, and more. Read the articles below for the latest in-depth analysis of this important topics.
We have received questions from many sources that I wanted to try to respond to more broadly.
Several people have contacted us and asked questions about the Obama Administration’s e-mails and, specifically, President Obama’s Blackberry messages. We have been briefed about the Executive Office of the President’s current e-mail archiving system and we have been given the opportunity to ask detailed questions about its critical characteristics.
Some stories refuse to go away. One such story is the case of the missing White House emails. Over the course of two years beginning in 2007, I documented this story in my book, “Where Have All The Emails Gone?” and followed it up with articles written both here on AC360° and elsewhere.
It was announced today that some of those missing emails have been recovered.
President Roosevelt may have had to contend with Hitler and Stalin, not to mention an occasionally naked Churchill (look it up), but at least he didn’t have to deal with the blogosphere. President Obama has no such luck. He’s the second President who not only has a fourth estate, but a completely unruly and often full-goose-bozo body of bloggers, just looking for any excuse to increase their “hits” and drive up the pennies they’re given for their thoughts from Google’s ad revenue service.
Last week, The National Archives — a repository of important government documents, including the U.S. Constitution — announced it had lost a computer hard drive. Congressional aides briefed on the matter say it contains “more than 100,000″ Social Security numbers and Secret Service and White House operating procedures. David Gewirtz tells us why we should be concerned.
The risk isn’t just about military contractors and national security. These programs can upload whatever they find on your computer and share them with everyone. They can upload your banking information, your medical history, everything you’ve got in My Documents, your passwords, your credit card numbers, and even that embarrassing love letter to the hottie working Thursday nights at the local Taco Bell.
Can Congress multitask…With the global financial crisis dominating all of our attention, can members of Congress deal with anything else? Senator Patrick Leahy has just proposed the creation of a “truth and reconciliation” commission to investigate alleged wrongdoing by the Bush administration’s Justice Department. Is it a good idea?
The Bush White House email story just gets weirder and weirder. In his inauguration speech, President Barack Obama told us, “The time has come to set aside childish things.” Within the United States Government, apparently old habits die hard.
We now have some official confirmation that President Obama will be using a BlackBerry device in office. In the first of his Daily Press Briefings, newly minted White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs answered some questions about the President’s BlackBerry.
Say you work for a new boss and want to keep your job. Now, say your new boss is the first-day-on-the-job President of the United States. Now, let’s say your boss, the President, tells you that not only are you not going to take his BlackBerry from him, you’re going to find a way to make sure he can keep it. What do you do? What do you do?
It can be breathtaking to watch the ultimate powers in America taunt each other like children in a schoolyard. Amid all the excitement over our brand-new President, there’s an epic battle going on to preserve the history of our outgoing one.
DAVID GEWIRTZ is a CNN contributor and editor-in-chief of the ZATZ magazines. He is a recipient of the Sigma Xi Research Award in Engineering and was a candidate for the 2008 Pulitzer Prize in Letters. David serves as USSPI's executive director.
