Staff Finds White House in the Technological Dark Ages(disregard for security?)

WP ^ | 01/22/09 | Anne E. Kornblut

[TigerLikesRooster]

Staff Finds White House in the Technological Dark Ages

By Anne E. Kornblut

Washington Post Staff Writer

Thursday, January 22, 2009; A01

If the Obama campaign represented a sleek, new iPhone kind of future, the first day of the Obama administration looked more like the rotary-dial past.

Two years after launching the most technologically savvy presidential campaign in history, Obama officials ran smack into the constraints of the federal bureaucracy yesterday, encountering a jumble of disconnected phone lines, old computer software, and security regulations forbidding outside e-mail accounts.

What does that mean in 21st-century terms? No Facebook to communicate with supporters. No outside e-mail log-ins. No instant messaging. Hard adjustments for a staff that helped sweep Obama to power through, among other things, relentless online social networking.

"It is kind of like going from an Xbox to an Atari," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said of his new digs.

In many ways, the move into the White House resembled a first day at school: Advisers wandered the halls, looking for their offices. Aides spent hours in orientation, learning such things as government ethics rules as well as how their paychecks will be delivered. And everyone filled out a seemingly endless pile of paperwork.

[bird4four4]

computers outfitted with six-year-old versions of Microsoft software.

You mean Windows XP? Boy talk about your stone age technology systems. Nobody uses that anymore.

[KarlInOhio]

One problem the Obama gang has to deal with is that email, IM and various web sites can be and probably are logged and archived. The way to avoid this is to stick to the landline telephone to avoid producing anything traceable or subject to a subpoena.

[hoosierham]

I bet they ride in cars,or maybe public transit that use WHEELS!

I mean like,how lame is that?Wheels are ,like,what?,a million years old?

Fools are always in a hurry to discard the proven for the novel.

[Centurion2000]

Two years after launching the most technologically savvy presidential campaign in history, Obama officials ran smack into the constraints of the federal bureaucracy yesterday, encountering a jumble of disconnected phone lines, old computer software, and security regulations forbidding outside e-mail accounts.

What does that mean in 21st-century terms? No Facebook to communicate with supporters. No outside e-mail log-ins. No instant messaging. Hard adjustments for a staff that helped sweep Obama to power through, among other things, relentless online social networking.

Security & Convenience - the two are INVERSELY related.

The WH holds the best secrets on the planet. I want them inconvienced.

[JRios1968]

That’d be a HUGE step forward. Lotus Notes stinks to high hell

[MrB]

I don’t think casual disregard even comes close.

They vary from “criminal negligence” all the way up to “intentional disregard”.

[SueRae]

I was going to give them 6 months before the 1st security leak. I’ll revise that to 6 weeks. Not that any of them should have security clearances in the first place.

[SueRae]

But if Sandy Berger can get away with it, so will they.

[6SJ7]

The banking system is imploding, the deficit is exploding, the Middle East is boiling, and these idiots are worried about access to Facebook?!!

[TSgt]

That’d be a HUGE step forward. Lotus Notes stinks to high hell

I know...I have to use it everyday. I'd rather write emails in Notepad. :(

[JRios1968]

I have to use both Outlook AND Notes for my job...the differences are too many to list.

[TalonDJ]

If you go to most facilities of Samsung corporation which produces many of gadgets these boys are so fond of, there is no outside connection to Internet.

No kidding! Anyone that has held a real 'high tech' job does not find those restrictions odd or 'darkages' at all. What a bunch of buffoons.

[holden]

Somewhere a non-white mid-level exec of a failing computer company gave up his lottery ticket trip, trading that--with the same goal in mind--for a burst of faxes and emails to the DBM and Zero-minions, looking for his bailout money.

HF

[DoughtyOne]

Heh heh heh...

[Flying Circus]

Any idea how I can get that image to come up when I startup Notes on my computer?

[Aunt Polgara]

No Facebook to communicate with supporters.

And of course there is no one there who even knows, or cares, that using government facilities for political activities is against the law..

[Justa]

They're on a secure network and they don't even realize it! If they open up the WH network in a few months they will be right back to where they are today after some embarrassing information spills.

"There's only one thing worse than stupidity, and that's ignorance".

[TSgt]

No but here is a VERY humorous site for those who hate Notes.

http://www.ihatelotusnotes.com/notes/the-healing-process/

"Though I’ve never repeatedly stabbed myself in the eye with a rusty, dull knife, I think that would be more pleasant than using Lotus Notes. I think the people who make the decision to use Lotus Notes should be forced to sit around and watch a Rob Schneider Film Festival with my Jewish Mother who is craving grandchildren until they apologize for their mistake."

"You know why the wind blows through IBM Corporate HQ? Because Lotus Notes SUCKS so much! Send email to another employee that is out of the office and get the AUTO REPLY two HOURS later. What a sweet piece of software!"

[edge10]

Lucky them! We now have the latest MS Office at work and with the ‘new and improved’ UI you can’t find anything!

[edge10]

‘The team members, accustomed to working on Macintoshes...’

There’s your problem.