Dear Mainstream Media: Obama's new phone might not be a BlackBerry, might not be a phone, and he might not be getting it

This morning we've been barraged with tips alerting us to the news that President Obama has won his struggle to keep his (apparently deeply loved) BlackBerry -- a device which has historically been verboten in the White House due to security concerns. Unfortunately for the mainstream media outlets, a little conflation here and a little lack of fact-checking there does not a BlackBerry make. Just about everyone -- straight up to CNN and the AP -- are sourcing a post by Marc Ambinder in the Atlantic stating that Obama is "going to get his blackberry [sic]," though the actual news may be far different. Ambinder seems to be conflating two stories which he doesn't source at all, one saying that the NSA will jack-up Obama's BlackBerry with some kind of "super-encryption package," and the other stating that the President will get a Sectera Edge -- an NSA approved (but not issued) device we reported he might be getting last week. Here's the news in the exact (confusing) wording Ambinder uses:

On Monday, a government agency that the Obama administration -- but that is probably the National Security Agency -- added to a standard blackberry a super-encryption package.... and Obama WILL be able to use it ... still for routine and personal messages.

With few exceptions, government Blackberries aren't designed for encryption that protects messages above the "SECRET" status, so it's not clear whether Obama is getting something new and special. The exception: the Sectera Edge from General Dynamics, which allows for TOP SECRET voice conversations.

The problem is that Ambinder (and the mainstream media) doesn't seem to know the difference between some NSA smartphone and an actual RIM BlackBerry... and there's a big difference. Of course, we won't tell MSM (or even solo bloggers) how to do their job, but we think there's some serious air-clearing called for here. We have yet to hear official word on what, if any, device Obama will be using in the White House, and recombining two separate pieces of information that may not be related (or fully understood) seems lazy at best, and dangerous at worst.

Read - Obama Will Get His Blackberry
Read - Obama 'to get spy-proof smartphone'
Read - No decision on whether Obama will keep BlackBerry
Read - Obama thinks he can keep his BlackBerry

[idiot @ Jan 22nd 2009 10:56AM]

riveting

[MadMike @ Jan 22nd 2009 12:29PM]

Why can't the White House and the NSA just approach RIM and be like "Yeah, so we need a spy-proof blackberry for the most powerful person in the free world, aaaaand we want Hail the Chief as the ringtone! Mmkay?"

[thesvtautox @ Jan 22nd 2009 1:09PM]

prolly because RIM is from Canadia

[Jash Sayani @ Jan 22nd 2009 1:27PM]

Yeah, since RIM is from Canada, he can switch to the iPhone.... Apple is just next door...

[MadMike @ Jan 22nd 2009 1:41PM]

What does Canada have to do with anything? A lot of companies are from Canada. I'm sure RIM has a US division. They can do what they did with Merck (The pharma company) back in WWII. They take over the US branch from the foreign branch and use them to make chemical weapons.

[Michael Scrip @ Jan 22nd 2009 2:13PM]

> "Yeah, so we need a spy-proof blackberry for the most powerful person in the free world"

I thought the whole point of the President not using e-mail or a Blackberry is to avoid the Presidential Records Act.

So, if he used a Blackberry, and every e-mail and SMS could be spied on... it would eventually become public record anyway, right? So who cares if it's not secure?

[patrickkk @ Jan 22nd 2009 3:43PM]

he could you a zach morris cell phone for all i care.

hes our president, eff his cell phone preference or usage.

[Chris Are @ Jan 29th 2009 7:21PM]

Are you sure he's YOUR president? It doesn't sound like English is your first language... though I suppose it doesn't have to be. Just an observation.

[Jay Voorhees @ Jan 22nd 2009 10:59AM]

He has people to do everything and anything for him, not to mention people to get him information faster than Google. What exactaly does he need to keep his crackberry for?

[csmitty @ Jan 22nd 2009 1:26PM]

To check facebook obviously, he needs to know if the afgani pres has added him as a friend yet.

[Michael Scrip @ Jan 22nd 2009 2:17PM]

So, the President can't have a Blackberry... but the guy next to him can. And since the President travels with a dozen people, he should be fine.

Can his assistant hand him a Blackberry to read? And can he tell her what to type in response?

I'm just trying to figure out how the President can do the hardest job in the world, without using any electronic communications.

[Dan Fruzzetti @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:00AM]

Any chance I can get that NSA uber-encryption package on my phone? Security rocks! I think the best thing about the President saying "FU; make my phone work" is that the rest of us will (should) be able to benefit from whatever they develop!

[fastm3driver @ Jan 22nd 2009 3:15PM]

Yes you can, but for "super encryption" requires the other phone to have similar software. Also it doesn't work very good unless you have a dedicated decoding/encoding ship to do say AES 256 on the fly. The Sectera phone has that, your does not. There is a higher level orf approved encryption the NSA has but they don't tell you how it works. To pass this test you need to submit your device and hope it passes. If it fails they send it back to you and ask you to make it better. They never tell you how it failed because then they would have to tell you their system. This means it is very costly and annoying to get approval. I believe the Sectera is the only thing to make it through.
My dad was asked to design something like this but they couldn't make a business case out of it. My background includes designing electronics currently being used on AF1; that is all I can say about that. :)

[Mark Leach @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:00AM]

Dear Engadget editor,

It's not the encryption we're worried about (I thought Obama was campaigning on a transparency Government?) but the fact that there is no paper trail. Since the Watergate scandal no President has been allowed to use a electrical device without a paper trail.

[Brian @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:12AM]

Good riddance to this policy.

There's no reason the President shouldn't be able to use electronic communications. There's no good reason to keep him in the 19th century. Anything electronic can be logged.

[Like_A_Glove @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:20AM]

Since Apollo 17, no human has landed on the moon as well. Enlightened by this fact, we must never carry out lunar landing missions ever again.

[CJ @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:22AM]

They should just pull out the patriot act and use it against the president.

Nobody is immune, right? RIGHT?

[metecus @ Jan 22nd 2009 12:11PM]

So as long as they attach a mobile printer to it it's good to use?

[Matt @ Jan 22nd 2009 10:44PM]

There are plenty of audit-able email solutions. Mimosa and some other solutions are designed for legal eDiscovery. They archive Microsoft Exchange messages at a transactional log level. So anytime you do anything with an email message: Move, read, delete, etc. it is logged and available for audit.

[matt @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:01AM]

I love engadget, but don't you find it a little... ironic perhaps, that engadget is telling other blogs it needs to check their facts before posting information?

[Platinum_Skeet @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:02AM]

owned

[joe23521 @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:09AM]

You bashers need to give it a rest. Engadget is NOT perfect, but it's still the best and most professional tech blog in the English language. If you don't like it, stay away.

[nerdtalker @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:13AM]

Wait, you're saying you think fact-checking is a *bad* thing?

I think this is excellent. I'm equally as confused after reading those things, and I've read a few others. I doubt he's selfish enough to let his personal interest in having a bona-fide Blackberry with him 24/7 put national confidential information at risk. My wager is on the NSA-approved smartphone.

It isn't a Blackberry, but it has so many more shades of awesome in it. One-touch classified/nonclassified operation switch? I thought that's the kind of thing that people *become* president because they want to use.

[Platinum_Skeet @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:13AM]

No blog site is that's the point...

[Joshua Topolsky @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:13AM]

Actually, we bend over backwards to make sure what we post is accurate. When we make a mistake, we own up to it. I have a team of editors here who work incredibly hard to ensure that the news we deliver is sound AND fact-checked, so I'm not really sure where you're coming from.

[KIFF @ Jan 22nd 2009 3:14PM]

I thought when you made mistakes you tend block and delete comments.

Or at least one of you did. *cough*block*cough*

[matt @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:34AM]

@joshua

No doubt - and you guys get it right a lot more often than you get it wrong. That's not to say though, that there haven't been some very amusing cases of stories posted with incorrect facts which were countered in the 'read' link. Just sayin.

[YpoCaramel @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:51AM]

I agree. I'm still going to push for more fact-checking and more rigor in writing - if the readers hadn't complained about that speculative reference to the iPhone in the Nokia profit decline post, it would probably still be there.

[Major4Play @ Jan 22nd 2009 12:34PM]

@ Joshua

How about hiring a few proof readers while you're at it.

[Decoy @ Jan 22nd 2009 1:54PM]

& at least recognising there are problems with the Reply system, in lieu of fixing them.

[Brando @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:02AM]

Great, so when this country goes up in flames it will be RIM's fault.

[BigBloke @ Jan 22nd 2009 12:14PM]

Of course, RIM is Canadian, so just blame them :-)

[cptwaldo @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:03AM]

Because sometimes those "crackberrys" (hence the name).....become about as addicting as CRACK!

I wouldn't want to give mine up either.

[Charles R Hamilton @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:03AM]

The main stream media got something wrong? That's crazy talk.

[Chris @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:08AM]

Indeed, utterly preposterous.

[derX @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:18AM]

Poppycock, I say, poppycock!

[Farris @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:29AM]

Balderdash!

[fistpittingnork @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:40AM]

Blast the mainstream media and their tomfooleries!

[Matt @ Jan 22nd 2009 12:48PM]

The main stream media would have got away with it too, if not for you meddlin' bloggers!

[joe23521 @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:05AM]

Just make sure they erase the data before putting it out at the next White House garage sale.

[kal326 @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:08AM]

They're really just taking a Sectera Edge and slapping a Blackberry logo on it. They're the government, they can do whatever the want right?

[Mycroft @ Jan 22nd 2009 2:57PM]

Umm, no. Not that you'd be able to tell recently.

[Frankenstein Black @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:12AM]

What’s the problem? It’s not like RIM doesn’t already rout through NSA servers (or Carnivore 2 strapped Canadian servers). They see EVERYTHING! I say they create an AES (or better) isolated server just for his BB traffic. Keep in mind though, that all of the communication will be stored (and accessible should the need arise). So Scarlett, stop sweating him. He is kinda busy now. Just sayin ;^/…

[Kamokazi @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:44AM]

Exactly. And I am suprised they don't give him a tinfoil hat to protect himself from the Chinese-Russian brain scanning sattelites provided by the same aliens that killed the dinosaurs.

/rolleyes

[jcwtheu @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:14AM]

The Sectera EDGE is a WinMo phone. Not a BB.

[Phoenix @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:52AM]

They never said it was...

[b @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:20AM]

I'm surprised RIM isn't bending over backwards to make this work -- it's an incredible amount of free publicity for them

[Farris @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:31AM]

Go the f#ck away. This is a tech blog, not a political one.

[Charles R Hamilton @ Jan 22nd 2009 6:24PM]

Looks like they removed the post we were talking about and made us both look idiots.

[Charles R Hamilton @ Jan 22nd 2009 6:26PM]

Not that I need any help...