January 22nd, 2009 
joel A story on Politico.com last week is worth noting.
The White House Counsel has informed the new Obama administration that many of the social networking tools that they used to have a quick-on-its-feet successful political campaign cannot be used inside the President’s bubble.
During the campaign, AOL Instant Messenger and Google Chat were in constant use to quickly spread information through the far-flung staff. But with the concerns about security and the legal ramifications regarding the content of those posts needing to be archived and part of the public record, there is no IM in the White House.
Even though it sounds like a problem with lawyers run amok, the IM situation should give pause to all of us about the security of social networking tools, and any liability exposure we have when using them. Its all about the law keeping up with ever changing technology.
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Hi Joel, I just read about this and find it very interesting. As I’ve thought about it, I do understand the importance of ensuring the security and archiving of official White House communications, but it does raise the question of whether the White House computer infrastructure needs to be updated to allow the secure use of new methods and devices for communication (IM and Blackberrys for example) and most importantly, whether we taxpayers are willing to pay for the upgrade and implementation. I think we should, but I’d prefer it if the WH could adapt “off the shelf” software and devices rather than have to reinvent the wheel(s) (and the resulting development costs). Hoping to avoid political discussion about current or former presidents, I’d like to hear what others think about upgrading (and paying for) the WH infrastructure for current and future presidents and their staff to allow use of current/new communication tools to do their work. Is it worth the time and cost?
My brother in law works in the White House Communications Agency. He said the Blackberries are basically worthless as far as security goes. The use a type of Smartphone that runs a modified Windows platform and even then no emails with about ‘restricted’ classification. The problem isn’t the technology nearly as much as it is the users. The Pentagon just banned USB flash drives and a big part of that is people taking stuff and not the quoted ‘virus’ threat. If everyone has IM it will be much harder to crack down on leaks. I am not in favor of a more efficient White House if it means accepting these risks.
This just in…
http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/22/confirmed-obama-gets-his-blackberry-no-sectera-edge-in-sight/