POTUS
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Trump's iPhone use reportedly ignores 'inconvenient' security advice
Tonight Politico reports that the President is using mobile devices in ways that could increase his risk of being hacked. According to "senior administration officials" Donald Trump relies on at least two iPhones -- one to make phone calls and one for Twitter.
White House dumps 'cyber czar' advisory position
Today the White House confirmed there will be no replacement for Rob Joyce as cybersecurity coordinator. Joyce was Trump's first pick for this position created by the Obama Administration and spent 13 months as the "cyber czar" coordinating security efforts across government. Now the new national security advisor John Bolton is eliminating the position, as Politico reports that an email sent to staffers said the intent is to "streamline authority" within the National Security Council, which has two senior cyber policy directors. Not everyone agrees, however, as Senate Intelligence ranking member Mark Warner (D-VA) tweeted "We also need to articulate a clear cyber doctrine. I don't see how getting rid of the top cyber official in the White House does anything to make our country safer from cyber threats." Representative Jim Langevin (D-RI), said: "It is an enormous step backwards to deemphasize this growing challenge." Joyce will return to his post at the NSA. Meanwhile, Trump signed an executive order intended to give CIOs at federal agencies more hiring authority and control over budgets. Without the "cyber czar" agencies will have to find ways to coordinate with each other and foreign governments on matters like election security and data breaches without a single person managing the efforts. This should work out just fine.
AT&T confirms payment to Trump's personal lawyer for 'insight'
The story of a $130,000 payment from President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen to Stephanie Clifford, professionally known as the adult film actress Stormy Daniels, took another turn tonight and it involves AT&T. Daniels' lawyer Michael Avenatti tweeted earlier claiming the President and Cohen "have a lot of explaining to do," linking to a document detailing "suspicious financial transactions" involving the Essential Consultants LLC that Cohen formed in 2016 (PDF) to pay Daniels.
Twitter: An employee on their last day disabled Trump's account (updated)
No, you weren't hallucinating -- the President's personal Twitter account was unplugged earlier this evening. It disappeared, and then reappeared without warning or reason, however now Twitter is offering an explanation. The account was "inadvertently deactivated due to human error by a Twitter employee" for about 11 minutes before it was restored, so those hoping the company would turn it off for good are still left waiting. Update: Or... Maybe not. Now Twitter is saying that after an investigation, it appears this was done by a customer support employee on their last day. The tweet did not note if it was already the person's last day before or after they turned off the president's account.
Mark Zuckerberg explains post-election comments he now 'regrets'
Last November, Mark Zuckerberg said, "Personally, I think the idea that fake news on Facebook, of which it's a very small amount of the content, influenced the election in any way is a pretty crazy idea." Nearly a year later, and after evidence has been produced showing various Russian campaigns attempting to mislead voters last year, revelations that President Obama warned Zuckerberg about the issue and news that Facebook axed 'tens of thousands of accounts' ahead of the German election, he's changed his tune.
President Trump deletes tweets that supported a losing candidate
Last year, Twitter cut off and then reinstated Politwoops, a project that stores and reports deleted tweets by politicians. CEO Jack Dorsey said at the time that Twitter reinstated its access to "bring transparency" - similar to reasoning the company recently cited for not deleting certain tweets that appear to violate its rules. As a result, Politwoops was up and running tonight when three tweets posted in the last day from Donald Trump's personal account suddenly disappeared.
Twitter tries to explain why Trump's posts aren't like others
So if Twitter's rules ban "violent threats," then surely a tweet indicating that a country "won't be around much longer" from a user with the ability to make that happen would be deletion-worthy, right? As the company was forced to explain today, not quite. Donald Trump's tweet about North Korea may have riled that nation's representatives, but according to a thread from its global public policy team, "newsworthiness" and whether a Tweet is of public interest" comes into play. It says it will update its public-facing rules to make that clear, but clearly it has no interest in trying to place a muzzle on the accounts of any particular political leader -- no matter what he tweets next. Twitter Rules: Any accounts and related accounts engaging in the activities specified below may be temporarily locked and/or subject to permanent suspension. Violent threats (direct or indirect): You may not make threats of violence or promote violence, including threatening or promoting terrorism.
Revived National Space Council will guide Trump admin policy
Today Donald Trump signed an executive order reviving the National Space Council, an organization that existed in two previous iterations, from 1958 - 1973, and more recently from 1989 to 1993. President Obama raised the idea of reviving the council during a speech in 2008, but did not do it. In this version, the council will be chaired by Vice President Mike Pence while other members include the secretaries of State, Defense, Commerce and Homeland Security. The list doesn't stop there, but the council's exact responsibilities aren't quite clear. Its directive is to advise the president, plus coordinate and implement his space policy, however it "shall not interfere with the existing lines of authority in or responsibilities of any agencies."
Tweets will be official presidential records if the Covfefe Act passes
America's 45th president has a habit of writing and then deleting his social media posts and US Representative Mike Quigley wants him to stop. As such, Quigley on Monday introduced legislation to force the National Archives to include "social media" as part of the Presidential Records Act and he's calling it the Communications Over Various Feeds Electronically for Engagement, or "Covfefe" Act.
Trump to announce his SCOTUS pick tonight via Facebook Live
Donald Trump will announce his nominee for the vacant Supreme Court Justice seat tonight via Facebook Live. The stream begins at 8pm Eastern via the POTUS Facebook channel. As CNN reports, both candidates (Neil Gorsuch and Thomas Hardiman) have apparently been told they're Trump's favorite for the lifetime seat. Apparently, there will be Apprentice-style staging for the announcement: one prospect will walk away without the job while the world watches. Political theater like this is nothing new for Trump, but turning the presidency into a reality show is sure to ruffle some feathers.
Obama's legacy: The most tech-savvy president
When Barack Obama moved into the White House on January 20th, 2009, the federal government was in the digital dark ages. Even as late as 2011, he was complaining that the White House was 30 years behind. Among other things, Obama was the first president to carry a BlackBerry, and even so, it wasn't until 2016 that the leader of the free world was finally able to trade in his aging RIM device for a modern smartphone. And, as the president was quick to point out in an interview with Jimmy Fallon, the unnamed phone is so locked down, it's like one of those "play phones" you'd give to a 3-year-old. Despite these hurdles, Obama made it one of his priorities to modernize the federal government on everything from telecommunications policy to White House IT. He tackled infrastructure, STEM education, net neutrality and climate change in serious and substantive ways. Of course, the president's efforts weren't always a rousing success, and on issues involving privacy, spying and drone usage, he faces lingering criticism from both ends of the political spectrum. But, love him or hate him, for better or worse, when it comes to science and technology, Barack Obama has had a bigger impact than almost any president in history.
Unfollowing @POTUS could be difficult right now (update: explained)
While we only just learned of the transition plan for Obama Administration social media accounts, things aren't going quite as many users expected. Currently, many people have reported that despite unfollowing (or, in some cases, apparently never following) the @POTUS account on Twitter, they checked their accounts and are suddenly following it. According to company CEO Jack Dorsey in a series of tweets, what's happening is an automated process plotted out by the Obama team.
How to follow the Obamas after they leave the White House
As President Obama prepares to leave the White House, his team must gather up not only his physical belongings, but the tweets, blog posts and other online content produced over the last eight years. Such a bevy of accounts and internet discourse is not simple to shift, so the White House has outlined exactly what will move where tomorrow. To keep up with the outgoing President, you'll need to follow @BarackObama on Twitter, facebook.com/BarackObama and instagram.com/BarackObama. First Lady Michelle Obama will take a similar position online, posting with the @MichelleObama handle on Twitter and Snapchat, facebook.com/MichelleObama and Instagram.com/MichelleObama.
Obama's social archive is available for your perusal
Twitter and Facebook first appeared to the masses around 2006, and two years later, Barack Obama became president. As such, he was the first @POTUS to use social media, to the tune of more than 100 social media profiles and over 250,000 posts. To record all that for posterity, the White House collaborated with ArchiveSocial on the White House Social Media Archive. It's a searchable database of everything Obama and his administration posted on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Instagram and Pinterest over two terms and eight years.
Drone flights will be banned during Obama's visit to London
Drones have been banned in parts of London while Barack Obama visits the UK this week. An advisory published by the National Air Traffic Service (NATS) and regulator the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), has put restrictions on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and other aircraft from Thursday evening on April 21st until the morning of Sunday April 24th. It's part of Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin's "overarching security plan" to keep the US president and First Lady safe while on British soil.
President Obama wants US to 'reignite its spirit of innovation'
President Obama gave his final State of the Union address on Tuesday. In it, he discussed how far the country has come over the last year and where he sees it going in the future. But beyond the expected talk of a rebuilt, stronger economy, soaring high school graduation rates and new civil liberties, he laid out a bold plan to, as he puts it, make "technology work for us, and not against us."
The President finally has a Facebook page
For all of the White House's efforts to join the internet era, it's been awfully slow at giving the President a Facebook presence. It's not dragging its heels any longer, though: President Obama (and presumably, any future President) now has an official Facebook page. Besides giving the political leader a chance to explain agendas, it'll help you share your thoughts and chat with other concerned residents. The move was virtually necessary when over a billion people use Facebook every day, but it's hard to knock something that puts you in closer contact with your government. Let's just hope that the President has someone keeping a close eye on the comments -- if you think the politically-charged discussions in your own Facebook feed can get bad, you can imagine what it'd be like for a head of state.
Thanks, Obama: Now you can take selfies in the White House
We've seen President Barack Obama take a few selfies in the White House before, but until now the practice has been strictly forbidden for visitors on the public tour. Well, today that 40-year-old ban has been officially lifted. From now on, you can use a smartphone or a compact camera with a lens no longer than three inches to take photos inside the building. (Yes, this includes selfies.) While the rules have been relaxed somewhat, there are still plenty of gadgets on the "Prohibited Items" list. These include selfie sticks, tablets, GoPro-style action cameras and any snapper with detachable lenses. Texting, calls and livestreaming are also forbidden -- so no Periscoping while you walk down the entrance hall.
President Obama gets his own Twitter account: @POTUS
The President of the United States of America is one of the most powerful people in the world. Now, whoever holds that office also has a Twitter account to match. The White House announced today that @POTUS is the official handle for the commander in chief. As you're probably well aware, President Barack Obama already has a Twitter account that's quite active, however his campaign manages that feed. With this new username, updates will come directly from the president himself as he continues working to make "his Administration the most open and participatory in history." The new account goes nicely with @FLOTUS and @VP, and all three will get new owners in 2017 as the next election cycle approaches.
Russia might have hacked the White House
Russia's military overtures haven't been limited to its recent arctic war games. Cyber operatives reportedly working for Russia have already compromised an unsecured State Department computer system. Now US officials have admitted that the White House's network has been hit as well. While the affected White House's computers were part of an non-classified network serving the executive office, the attackers were still able to access sensitive information like the president's real-time daily schedule. Even more disturbing, a CNN report suggests that the hackers used an account on the State Department network to phish their way into the White House.
