More Proof the President is the Alpha Geek of the World
Posted on February 1, 2009 Posted by John Scalzi 27 Comments
The new symbol of Washington insider-dom is whether or not you have Barack Obama’s private e-mail address. For the record: I don’t have it, drat the luck. But I don’t know that I’d really want it; the first time you sent Obama a forwarded LOLcat, the Secret Service would show up at your door. That’s more excitment than I want.
It’s likely not that exclusive. Think of all the spammers that have his address.
I wish the Secret Service would visit them.
I really wonder what the address would be and how long it will take for it to be leaked.
And I wonder what the first spam message will be about?
The official POTUS email is president@whitehouse.gov for any brave spammers who want to try it. Even those lucky few who have the new POTUS’ private email should watch what they write. By law, copies of all presidential correspondence (including emails) have to be kept for posterity and can even be subpoenaed as evidence.
I bow before our Presidential alpha geek. I am not worthy. Maybe I can have Scalzi’s private email instead?
Chris: it’s john@scalzi.com. See how easy it is to get into my inner circle?
No, John, Chris doesn’t want the Whatever equivalent of president@whitehouse.gov. He wants your private email addy. Which is likely nightrangerfan@scalzi.com.
Hugh, it’s a miracle your brains didn’t explode writing such a bit of heresy.
True. Professional heretic. Closed course. Do not attempt!
It’s nice to know we have a President who can USE a Blackberry or other form of technology other than a churchkey or a glass pipe. Snarky, I know, but the bloom ain’t off the rose yet, so it’s nice to chortle some.
When Scalzi makes available scalzi.com emails for everyone (who will pay, of course) I am claiming nightrangerlegion@scalzi.com
If it’s so limited, I bet they have it on a whitelist system. If you’re not on the list, your email doesn’t get through.
whitelist system
Naw, that was the last administration…
I imagine being President is a lonely in a crowd sort of feeling on a whole new level.
“While texting” injuries are now one of the most common cause ER visits. Obama could be the first President in history to have an injury while walking and texting at the same time.
So let’s geek this out even more. How does the White House staff prevent tracking and honing in on their use of cell phones/blackberries etc? Does anyone know that? Is it cool geek technology that shows that the presidents blackberry is active in Montana while he really is at Camp David?
#16 (Jim); I think the media indicated that the Pres’ new ride was pimped personally for him by the NSA with a superhigh level of encryption. It certainly won’t stop the A-Team of hackers out there somewhere all the time, but I suspect that they’ll keep making modifications as time goies along. I think the White House minions will be using something similar.
I somehow don’t think that Sprint will be offering a similar model when my current cell phone contract runs out this year.
Bear in mind, the President’s Blackberry is for his personal use. For official business, they may issue him something like the Sectera Edge from General Dynamics, which costs about $3000 and is NSA-certified for information up to TOP SECRET level. Some wags have already dubbed it the “Barackberry.”
Yeah I understood it as this would be for his personal use so although I’d expect it to be super duper secure and all that… He’s most likely forwarding and receiving LOLcats ;)
That article (the NY Times one) was at once informative and depressing. But also unintentionally (?) hilarious.
Time for another rapid ideological U-turn:
http://www.latimes.com/news/la-na-rendition1-2009feb01,0,7548176,full.story
Obama’s keeping “renditions” — you know, handing prisoners over to other governments so _they_ can do the pliers-and-car battery stuff.
But since the Dear Leader is doing it, it MUST be okay now!
Dude, forget LOLcatting the Prez, and think HUGE: be the first person to Rickroll Obama! Now *that* is a claim to fame I’d love to have. I’d put that on a t-shirt!
MiniTru:
Aside from the fact that Obama’s stance probably doesn’t mean what you think it does, this relates to Obama e-mail list exactly how, now? If the answer is “why, it doesn’t at all” (hint: that is the answer in this case) then why did you put it in? Before you try to answer that, don’t answer that, because (as noted) it’s not germane to the topic at hand, and I don’t see much point in having the conversation drift in that direction.
I know that when you want to get foamy about Obama it’s hard to wait for a thread in which your foaminess might actually be on topic, but won’t you please try? It’ll keep me from having to delete your next attempted threadjack. Thanks.
SCENE 213. INT- OVAL OFFICE. DAY.
PRES. OBAMA is at his desk, checking email. Also in the room are CHIEF OF STAFF RAHM EMANUEL and SECRET SERVICE AGENT PHILIPS.
SOUNDTRACK: Silence, except for keyboard noises.
We switch to OVER THE SHOULDER SHOT: we can see PRES. OBAMA’s email account. TIGHT CLOSEUP of the screen as he CLICKS A LINK.
WHIP PAN to PHILIPS as he switches from professional calm to wide-eyed alertness.
SLO-MO: PHILIPS dives towards OBAMA —
CUT TO OVER THE SHOULDER SHOT as a browser window opens up (Firefox, natch) —
CUT TO REACTION SHOT — EMANUEL turns, startled, as —
Still in SLO-MO PHILIPS shouldercharges OBAMA, knocking him out of his chair to the ground, getting him out of the line of sight just as —
CUT BACK to the screen shot as the browser window finishes opening.
SOUNDTRACK: Rick Astley, “Never Gonna Give You Up”.
ajay@24 : *applause*
Interestingly, it seems like some people don’t have it who you might expect to (Clinton), perhaps because they can get face time with his Barackness whenever they want and thus email is unnecessary (Rahm Emanual being the obvious exception there, but I suspect that’s because he’s a type A control freak). So perhaps knowing seekritmuslim@whitehouse.gov really means that you are sorta important, but not super important.
The real question is – does President Obama have your email address?
No, you would probably just find your emails bouncing the next time you tried to send him something really important.