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.

[Political Junkie Too]

No Facebook to communicate with supporters. No outside e-mail log-ins. No instant messaging.

How quickly they forget how the Clinton administration intent purposefully downgraded the White House telephone system so as NOT to be able to trace a call back to a specific extension.

They didn't want to have data that could be subpoenaed that might indicate that someone in the White House had information or made a call or knew something that the White House could deny.

They intentionally wanted low tech as part of their plausible deniability.

-PJ

[SunkenCiv]

WaPo: Attempting to Make Bush Look Like Tech Moron
Publius’ Forum | 1/23/09 | Warner Todd Huston
Posted on 01/23/2009 6:03:46 AM PST by Mobile Vulgus
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2170189/posts

[SunkenCiv]

Obama Team not Happy with White House IT
by Sean Kalinich
Tweaktown
January 24, 2009

Ok this is going to be somewhat of a rant so I will apologize for any angry statements… Now that is out of the way let's get down to the meat of the topic.

President Obama's team is upset (much like a teenager would be) over the fact that they can no longer have facebook, myspace, personal e-mail accounts, and web sites accessible from inside the White House. Yes you heard right they would like outside access to some of the most Malware, Virus and Hacker unsecure portions of the Internet; all from inside a place where some of the most Secret Information in the US is talked about and some even maintained there.

Are these people for real? I am starting to get the impression that none of them actually looked at what the job required of them or what the security would need to be like. Also let's not forget this is the same team that Slammed Sarah Palin for using a Personal E-mail account.

To further pound home the impression I get that they are all spoiled teenagers one aid made this statement, "It is kind of like going from an Xbox to an Atari,"

They are now comparing the office of the Presidency to Game Consoles.

Makes me wonder what is next…