Staff Finds White House in the Technological Dark Ages

[IDemo]

By Anne E. Kornblut
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 22, 2009; Page A01

If the Obama campaign represented a sleek, new iPhone kind of future, the first day of the Obama administration looked more like the rotary-dial past.

Two years after launching the most technologically savvy presidential campaign in history, Obama officials ran smack into the constraints of the federal bureaucracy yesterday, encountering a jumble of disconnected phone lines, old computer software, and security regulations forbidding outside e-mail accounts.

What does that mean in 21st-century terms? No Facebook to communicate with supporters. No outside e-mail log-ins. No instant messaging. Hard adjustments for a staff that helped sweep Obama to power through, among other things, relentless online social networking.

"It is kind of like going from an Xbox to an Atari," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said of his new digs.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/21/AR2009012104249.html?nav=hcmodule

:argh:

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. think they will be able to fix it?

This kind of modernization would be worth the investment, I think.

[IDemo]

5. the part that is fixable, anyway

They can update the "six year old Microsoft software" (Office 2003, no doubt), although it sounds
like they would prefer a switch to Macs. A lot of what they are up against is just the restrictions
placed upon them by "security reasons and to ensure that all official work is preserved under the Presidential Records Act.

[zipplewrath]

8. Yup

For all the well deserved grief that the Bush administration had over GOP external email accounts and computers, it all started because of an attempt to avoid some of the problems the Clintons had with the co-mingling of party and government business. There are alot of laws about what can and cannot be done that were written before the internet, and some even before the wide spread use of computers. The Bushes thought the solution was GOP supplied computers. I think Obama will have to rethink that approach and consider modernizing the laws to reflect 21st century realities.

[Kalyke]

2. I work for an Internet security provider with a federal contract.

If anyone is here from the Obama Administration - PM me.

I'd prefer not to say for whom I work - for security reasons, obviously - on a public message board.

[vaberella]

3. Does this mean they are planning to make those changes?

Maybe get a staff in who takes care of the needs of the American people and keep up the rapport and relationship? I so don't want him willing staying within that kind of environment especially since that was a contributor to our separation in the first place.

[treestar]

4. Figures that Dubya did nothing to upgrade

Sheesh!

[Frustratedlady]

6. They sure knew how to get into computers, though.

No wonder they didn't get anything done. Obama'a staff/operation should shine and blow the socks off the Repugs' when they discover how quickly things can get done.

[liberalla]

7. I hope they scrub everything-- verify EVERY thing possible

as I've wondered if the "previously-in-power" administration has arranged to copy data or "cyber spy" on them. I hope Obama has HIS people checking EVERYTHING.

You know how interested those guys were in elections (counting), surveillance and data collection, etc... we've got to make sure no one is cutting in and copying or rerouting data!

[tigereye]

9. dark ages in more ways that one!

That must be really hard for those folks whose tech savvy is so high. I love the idea of a Mac- enabled White House!

[Jennicut]

10. This is ridiculous. It needs to be upgraded fast. This is the executive branch?

Sad. The security laws, not sure how Obama can address that.

[On the Road]

11. Bill Clinton Experienced the Same Thing in 1992

"Where are the speakerphones? Where is the conference calling capability? But they have extension phones that anyone can pick up and listen in on. So I could have the conference I didn't want but not the one I did want."