GolfHos

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/us/politics/16blackberry.html?_r=3&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Transparency in Gubment FTL!

If a government official is using private email to circumvent transparency in government, I have no problem with that official's "private" email being made public.  All of it, in fact -- serves him/her right.

But so long as the official uses the private email solely for communications of a PRIVATE and PERSONAL nature, it should remain private.

Sad that those with axes to grind can go on fishing expeditions, and that officials have to discontinue email because of it.  Then again, how else can the public be reassured that officials aren't using hidden email to carry out government activities/deliberations that they don't want us to find?

'Zactly.

Then again, he could just ignore any subpoena's and claim executive privilege.

Why can't he just have a gubmint blackberry was my point...

barry.guatemala@gmail.com

I must have missed that in your lengthy post.

Does it really matter who owns the Blackberry or pays for the email service?  If POTUS uses it, someone's going to ask for everything that's passed through it.  (Actually, it does matter in that where the government owns the device or supplies the email service, there's no reasonable expectation of privacy in the email messages.)

The phrasing in the article suggests that even with a government device, he still would not have email.  They give some BS about email security, in the same sentence telling us that others would handle email for him - so that makes a lot of security sense  ::)

My take is this - yes, all his communications are going to be logged and archived.  But they still do not want him having email..... because they want to control all the communications that are to be logged and archived.  They do not want the President typing his own email and sending it without a team of political strategists and lawyers reviewing and massaging it.  Of course he can always tell 'they' to bugger off.

That's my two pennies anyway.

Curious:

Who do you see as this 'They'?

Are these some sort of evil partisan types like this guy:

(http://www.businesspundit.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/george_soros_lightbox.jpg)

or just your garden variety Evil Gubment lawyers ensuring nothing untoward is going on?

See above.  More of the garden variety.  The party and other advisers surely do not want the President sending out messages with misspellings, use of the phrase 'w00t' (apologies to jderion  ;)), exposing ignorance on any subject, or any other casual missteps that will get logged and scrutinized forever.

Fair enough.

I agree the whole thing seems a little silly, but then again I can pretty much assure that anything running through Hopey's Gubment supplied e-mail (blackberry or otherwise) will be scrutinized by what is now the Loyal Opposition (irony completely intentional) to the NTH degree.

ANY use of private e-mail would be seen as anything from 'Proof' of a conspiracy to plan another 9-11 type attack with Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright to ironclad evidence that the 44th POTUS has something to hide involving anal **** with somebody, somewhere.

I'm guessing a garden variety hummer won't really cut it in post-modern 'Merka.

It seems you and my wife are on the same page on this one.

You're either very unfortunate, or extremely lucky depending on how one reads that statement!

Good point. Keep in mind my wife is a nurse.

*bom-chicka-wah-wah*

Lucky you!

Somehow I think you went the wrong way with that.