AT&T Encrypted Mobile Voice to bring extra security to Obama's BlackBerry calls
By Darren Murph 
posted July 23rd 2010 3:46PM
posted July 23rd 2010 3:46PM
Yeah, we know that the Prez was once seen rocking a Verizon-branded BlackBerry 8830, but just bend your mind a bit and bear with us. Shortly after lighting up Wall Street with an exceedingly excellent quarterly earnings report, AT&T has announced an Encrypted Mobile Voice service that'll hit later in the year. Assuming Obama actually does own an AT&T-branded 'Berry, he'll soon be able to enjoy what AT&T calls "the first mobile-to-mobile voice encryption solution using two-factor authentication offered by a US operator." Said service is expected to provide a higher level of security for calls across the AT&T wireless network, and naturally, it'll be shopped to government agencies, law enforcement organizations, financial services institutions and international businesses, all of which will pay far too much for what's likely a false sense of security. We mean, haven't these guys ever seen 24?
I assume he uses iDEN
@kapryt
Regardless if it is iDen or not, I personally wonder if he bitches as much as other ATT customers do about tiered data pricing:p
@Rick James
LOL!!! No one could bitch as much as an AT&T user.
Whether its data plans or holding the phone right!
http://www.styrofoamsoup.com/tech/all-smartphones-can-be-held-wrong/
@kapryt just hope he doesn't hold his BB wrong. The master says it loses service if you hold it in an awkward way.
@kapryt
ANNOUNCING: AT&T's brand new SECURITY-minded phones.
Think someone's tracing your calls? Think the gov't is after you? No worries! Our phones automatically disconnect your calls after 30 seconds preventing a trace and providing you the utmost security! Sign up today!
@kapryt
Shouldn't this be done with VOIP instead?
@kapryt Yeah, I'm sure that with Android, someone could easily piggyback on an existing VoIP service and just encrypt the connection. I believe that SIP is just the protocol to start the communication between devices and that as long as both contain a codec with encyption support, you could easily do encrypted SIP based VoIP.
@ravissimo LMAO, good one.
@Rick James
Why would Obama complain if he makes so much money every month?
cue pointless and misplaced political debate.
@kojo87
I think most of the people here would actually be concerned with the national security issues of the President regardless of his political party.
That I assume is why mention of his smartphone creates such a war among people.
Even though cellphones and the internet have existed for many presidents (of both parties) none have used them directly until now... you always need a fall guy
@pple is poo Stay in Canada bitch. ey!!!!
@pple is poo I agree with you completely, apart from points 1,2 and 3.
@pple is poo
I'm sure they love you representing them. /s
@kojo87
Obama's going to need all the security he can get as long as he keeps up with the current agenda..
@pple is poo
.. i'm ashamed to know you are a canadian, as am i .
@Andork
It's Eh*
I really think we need the president to be on Verizon. I mean yeah, I just switched to AT&T, but I'm not that important. He's the president. Stick with VZdub.
@dantzig
What? Do you like making sense? Because your sure not doing it
@Clinton O
Hmmm ... I stand by my original comment.
@dantzig What is this senseless jabber your spewing?
And why must teh pres go to verizon becuase he is black?
What you cant stand to see a black man on a comapny that crushed
numbers last quarter? Why must he go to the company that made less profits?
I smell a racist amongst us.
@FrankDTank, I understand that you are trying to have some fun, but surely you realize that I mean he should be on Verizon because he is too important to have calls drop or have no service as I now often do on AT&T. Can you imagine the president discussing some important matter over the phone only to get no response, stop, look at his phone, and realize the call dropped a while back, and he's just been talking to himself? Or having someone important mistake a dropped call for the president hanging up on him? I am apparently now willing to endure AT&T's network to reap some family plan savings and have a phone that my toddler enjoys playing educational games on (in moderation), but it is just too pitiful for someone as important as the president. The president's phone needs to just work.
You may argue that the president primarily communicates through his handlers. Fine. Then they need to be on Verizon. Same argument.
@dantzig Verizon has arguably the best coverage in DC as well!
I can tottally see a flamewar with republican and democrats in right...NOW!
@TheSunman89
All I say... I'm against abortion, anti-choice. Or for thinking before having sex, pro-life.
@pavlindrom
Yeah, those darn rape victims never think before they get raped!
The president would never use any companies encryption method. NSA develops the encryption method
@DefPoet wow. someone making sense in the comments. you must be lost. :)
@DefPoet Regardless of who developed this Encrypted Mobile Voice thing, I am sure NSA will be listening to the conversations that go through it with greatest of ease.
Probably they'll be motivated to listen to them SPECIFICALLY because we wanted them to be secure. We probably must have something to hide!
(or maybe we don't have anything to hide NOW, but might be in the FUTURE, in which case it might be too late for the NSA to step in and and save the freedom, the democracy, and other stuff).
@DefPoet Can't you crack anything with a computer, an expert and a non-expert yelling "ENHANCE" over and over again?
Or more importantly... I hope he uses iDEN or something which the government can monitor well. He is after all the President of the United States of America.
Or of course I really hope he would have used this:
http://www.gdc4s.com/content/detail.cfm?item=32640fd9-0213-4330-a742-55106fbaff32
Instead of using a Canadian made Blackberry... oh well I guess the Prime Minister is listening to his phone calls, at least their an ally.
He's actually skirting the law that says that all communications have to be publically available; which is why presidents avoid technology.
@Shalabi
Not everything he says has to be publicly available. That would be a security risk.
Also, the President gets it free (courtesy of tax payers)
@psu12 You elected him
Steve Jobs for President!!!
@Son Goku
As much as I love Apple products, BAD IDEA!!!!
@Son Goku magical financial plan. revolutionary foreign policy. and if it doesn't work its our fault because we did something wrong not because of his bad policy.
i'd rather vote Nader.
@Son Goku
As much as I like the iPhone, we don't need another Liberal socialist for president. We've had enough with Obama.
@ericrwalker Don't involve politics!!
@ericrwalker Lets face it we don't need another republican empire expander either. Personally all of them tend to be thieves but they distract the masses with pointless labellings and name calling much like "socialism" or "liberal". Tea Party people are equally worrisome. I don't remember the deficit nor any other problems getting better under the previous administration that had 8 years to fix or improve. Basically same results different camps.
@southern78
If you want to get down to the nitty gritty. What republican empire? The Dems have been running the congress (making laws and spending US tax dollars) since 2006, but we'll blame Bush for the downfall of the economy in the last few years. Yeah he signed the bill by the Dems, and for that he messed up.
@southern78
Also, during Bush administration the economy was good for most of it. Though he did spend too much money in his last two years (with the help of the Democrat congress), that is nothing compared to what Obama has spent. Quadrupled the deficit in the first year, and increased the national debt from under 1 trillion to 13 trillion dollars in less than 2 years.
From 2002 through 2007 our nations debt was about 500 Billion dollars each year it almost doubled in 2008. Now it's about 13 trillion dollars.
Don't worry we'll just add a VAT tax to pay for it!!!
@ericrwalker Clinton left him a surplus which Bush squandered. Did your readings show that? Are we playing the game of posting google searches results now? The bailouts were started under Bush to....(I was not a fan of bailouts on a side note). Your just not holding any water with your arguments. I am a independent but mindless party worship just for the sake of it is the biggest issue here.
@southern78
Google searches? No I know the info, but to get correct number I do look them up. I am not a Republican I am a Conservatve (I want to follow the constitution). You might want to look into the myth of the Clinton surplus, if there was a surplus. It looked like a surplus on paper, but there wasn't one. I will say the only good thing about Clinton was that he was the only Liberal out there that was decent wih the economy. Then he didn't have 9/11 to worry about. Of course when he was in office and we were atacked over and over he treated it like it was not an act of war.
Like I said I wasn't a fan of the Bush bailouts either (the last 2 years of Bush spending, Bush doesn't write the spending laws Democrats did. Bush signed them)
Pet peeve of mine...Learn the differences between YOUR and YOU'RE When you want to say "you are" use the contraction you're. (e.i. Your just not holding any water with your arguments is wrong....should be You're just not holding any water with your argument) Also, it's I am "AN" independent. Which is usually what someone says when they don't know what the hell is going on and they chose he guy they see with the most ads on TV.
@ericrwalker
My pet peeve is not to have jackasses like you correct grammar like a 6th grade English teacher that is sooo incredibly annoying I'm pretty sure his argument isn't invalidated because he swapped your and you're
Well at least my money is going somewhere good....cool AT&T!!
Damn Engadget y'all try so hard to be funny and witty on every article. It looks bad honestly.
Didn't AT&T just have a security breach regarding iPads? They don't seem like the most secure company. I would have thought the higher points of government have phones that don't run on standard cell service.
Kim-Jong Il just fired off another torpedo in disgust.