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While customers are expected to flock to stores later this month to buy the new BlackBerry Storm, one prominent American won’t be joining them and may not be carrying a BlackBerry of any kind- the next president of the United States.
According to the New York Times, President-Elect Barack Obama may be forced to surrender with BlackBerry, which has been ubiquitous for much of his time in public life, when he assumes office in January. That’s because of security concerns, as well as the Presidential Records Act, which makes all public communications by the chief executive both part of the public record and open to subpoena.
While Obama made use of technology in a way no candidate had before and has vowed to make technological innovation a big part of his White House, he will likely have to do so without his favorite gadget.
BlackBerries also surfaced as an issue in the presidential campaign when, in September, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, the chief economic advisor to Sen. John McCain, told reporters that because of legislation he backed in Congress, the BlackBerry was ”the miracle John McCain helped create.” A McCain spokesman later dismissed this as “a boneheaded joke by a staffer.”
Security of presidential communications has moved to the forefront once again, as Newsweek reported last week that a major breach occurred of the internal servers of both the Obama and McCain campaigns last summer. The FBI and Secret Service believe that those responsible were either Russian or Chinese.
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