Barack and His Blackberry

I recently realized that I never posted my blog for Chapter 12 so I figured I would put it up here......

The section about Obama and his blackberry was very interesting to me. While the world is progressing and taking part in new, new media, it feels almost unfair to prevent the president from having access to these new advances. They keep people connected and up to date with what is going on in the world, but the controversy does make me think.
On the other hand, I think it is important for the president to be securely protected at all costs. His information and messages should be protected at all cost. Social media constructs this certain open forum to everyone and even when something seems private, people on the internet can usually access it at some degree. This makes me think that Obama should not take part in these forums and understand why he perhaps should not have his blackberry. For maximum security, to himself, and our country, his messages should not be shared. Overall, I think it is smart that he have his blackberry but be protected with the nation in mind.

The Technology of the Obama Era

In the subsection "President Obama and His Blackberry," Paul Levinson talks about the security issue of preventing Obama's texts, tweets, and posts from hackers. Most people are aware that everything that is posted on the internet whether its pictures, status updates, or emails can still be accessible deep in the internet's mainframe. Text messages or phone calls can be tracked as well through your service provider. Any of these ways of communication can be intercepted or even hacked if the hacker had the right equipment and the right skills.

It would be interesting to know what the President of the United States was texting or emailing. Better yet, it would be more interested as to who he was talking to. However, information that President sends out is probably important and secret. This information would be really bad if it got out to the public early. I think it definitely would be a good idea for Obama to have his blackberry protected and his internet connection more secure than the average person.

New New Media and Politics

As New New Media has evolved, it has effected nearly every aspect of our lives. Politics is no exception. As Media has evolved, so has political campaigning. From the first radio broadcasted speeches in the early 1900s, to the first televised presidential debates in the 60s, politics has once again taken another leap forward into new new media, in particularly the internet. The internet has become such an incredibly huge medium, it was inevitable that those on the campaign trail would use it to boost their campaigns, however nobody would have guessed the scale of usage that some candidates would put forth. Many people say this is a very big reason why Barack Obama won the 2008 presidential election. Many people said he successfully harnessed the internet to his advantage.

The large scale use of internet for presidential elections was pioneered by Howard Dean in the 2004 election. However Dean failed to win even the Democratic Primary, he was the mastermind behind president Obama's political campaign on the internet, which seemed to be a very crucial facet of his election. President Obama's inauguration was the first inauguration to be widely streamed online, I remember watching it in my Chemistry teachers room as a sophomore.

Immediately following his inauguration, President Obama and his staff changed the presidential website as well, whitehouse.gov. Under previous administrations it had just been used for publishing documents and such. Now there is a blog, photos, streaming videos, podcasts and a sign up for email alerts as well. The Obama administration has pioneered and revolutionized the use of the internet for campaigning and propaganda publishing, reaching a vastly larger audience, overshadowing the use of old new media.

The President and His Blackberry

I knew that social media had a huge effect on the success of Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign before reading this chapter, but the details of the Blackberry controversy were unknown to me. I found this little section of the chapter to be the most interesting because I never really thought about the possible complications and dangers, even, of the President of the United States having a cell phone. Although the issue was resolved and Obama was allowed to keep possession of his Blackberry, I still question the how safe this could really be if he is using it for email. What if the emails were hacked somehow or his phone ends up in the wrong hands? There must be some kind of regulation of the kind of messages he is allowed to send and receive, otherwise who knows what breaches of national security we could encounter? While it seems crazy to restrict this seemingly essential device to the leader of our nation, I still have reservations about whether or not it really is a good idea.