The NYT says Obama will have to give up using email (and his Blackberry) in the White House. This seems unnecessary to me. I understand if classified information is best kept away from any hackable network. But email can be encrypted securely enough for most day to day communication. There's also no reason why email has to cause disclosure issues: it can go through government servers that keep permanent records. Millions of private sector executives use off-the-shelf technology for secure communication. Anyway, phones can be hacked, bugs can be planted, moles can be recruited - I don't see why email has to be a special case. The federal government should be managed as efficiently as any private sector corporation. (Or: are we to believe no one with any important job in the U.S. government uses email? No wonder we think the government is such an inefficient bureaucracy!)

Shutting out modern technology because of security fears doesn't make sense to me. Better security and smart-use policies should suffice. I hope Obama vetoes this one.

(Part of my new Brick Walls thread.)