# Does the President use email? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 8, 2012, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-president-use-email/640346 "2012-11-08T10:07:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2012, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-president-use-email/640346/1 "2012-11-08T10:07:29Z")
I remember reading years ago that George W. Bush didn’t use email in the Oval Office because of the latent danger that these communications might one day be subpoenaed or otherwise become public (IIRC this was in light of the troubles Bill Clinton had). Emails by nature are like spoken conversation: Much more informal and candid, you expect privacy and express thoughts you would never put into writing under the official letterhead of your organization. So is the President allowed to use electronic mail under the premise that the emails will remain sealed forever? Or would he be violating any law when he deletes certain or all emails? Does the President haven an email account which only he uses personally and to which no assistant and clerical staff have access? ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2012, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-president-use-email/640346/2 "2012-11-08T10:47:45Z")
Well, I guess it won’t be betraying the trust between the President and I to show this to you. He emails me regularly, and we’re even on a first name basis. He turns to me occasionally when he needs my support because, well, he believes in me and often the outcomes of his important goals depend on me. > [@Barack Obama](#): > > From: Barack Obama > Sent: Sunday, October 28, 2012 9:44 AM > To: [Crazyhorse] > Subject: I’m asking > [Crazyhorse] — I don’t need to tell you this race is very close. > > But I need to tell you this: The outcome depends on you. > > If we win a Democratic Senate in nine days, it will be because you and I refused to give up everything we care about. But if we lose, it will be because we didn’t do enough today. > > The deadline we face at midnight is the most critical of this campaign. You have just 15 hours to prevent a Republican Senate takeover. Can you give $25 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee immediately? > > I’m asking for your help today. I’m fighting for this as hard as I know how, but we’ve got to fight together to win. > > In nine days, we’ll know the outcome. But I truly believe it depends on this moment. And I believe in you. > > Please contribute $25. Let’s put our all into this: > Thank you, > Barack [Here are some others](http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/series/all-the-presidents-emails) documented in a piece by the Guardian. > [@](#): > > In a unique experiment in democratic transparency, Barack Obama – a BlackBerry owner, and the first American president to use email while in office – agreed to copy G2 in on his otherwise highly confidential electronic communications. Or so we thought . . . ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2012, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-president-use-email/640346/3 "2012-11-08T12:12:23Z")
The expectation of privacy for emails is not like a conversation. It is like any other written correspondence. It is as private and confidential as the parties involved make it. But the information can be subpoened if I judge orders it. Of course when it comes to presidential emails that is complicated by the fact that some may be classified if it has to do with national defense. It would be very smart to limit emails to what may become public later. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2012, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-president-use-email/640346/4 "2012-11-08T12:24:41Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#): > > I remember reading years ago that George W. Bush didn’t use email in the Oval Office because of the latent danger that these communications might one day be subpoenaed or otherwise become public (IIRC this was in light of the troubles Bill Clinton had). > > Emails by nature are like spoken conversation: Much more informal and candid, you expect privacy and express thoughts you would never put into writing under the official letterhead of your organization. Maybe not. I work for a government agency and am very aware that my emails may be subpoenaed. I therefore do not express any thoughts in emails that I would not put on letterhead. The only thing informal about my emails is the writing style. If I want privacy , the email consists of “call me”. ``` I have heard that the governor avoids email and uses Blackberry messages instead for this exactly this reason. ``` ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2012, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-president-use-email/640346/5 "2012-11-08T14:39:31Z")
I delete most of my emails, saving only those I might want to refer to later. Is that illegal? ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2012, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-president-use-email/640346/6 "2012-11-08T18:14:43Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > I delete most of my emails, saving only those I might want to refer to later. Is that illegal? No, but it you are a government employee, it’s likely they are archived elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2012, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-president-use-email/640346/7 "2012-11-08T18:59:21Z")
> [@anson2995](#): > > No, but it you are a government employee, it’s likely they are archived elsewhere. Not just government employees. I think that in the US all business of a certain size at least are required to retain the information in their emails. I know my place of work archives its emails. I often wonder if 5000 identical copies of that spam we all got is in there. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2012, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-president-use-email/640346/8 "2012-11-08T19:07:30Z")
Good question. By extension does he have a gmail account? For family and close friends. What about ebay? Or Zappos? He’s got to buy his Nike’s somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2012, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-president-use-email/640346/9 "2012-11-08T19:21:46Z")
Some years ago, there was this scandal about a kid who hacked into Sarah Palin’s private Yahoo Mail account (more precisely: he guessed the correct answer to a question used for password recovery). Palin was later criticized because she apparently had used this private mail account for official business when she was Governor of Alaska. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2012, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-president-use-email/640346/10 "2012-11-08T19:21:48Z")
The G20 leaders have their own social network: > **[Obama and G20 leaders use secret Facebook-style network](https://www.channel4.com/news/obama-and-g20-leaders-use-secret-facebook-style-network)** > > A secret network which looks and works like Facebook is being used by world leaders to chat in real-time. Channel 4 News reveals how it's shaping the way G20 nations communicate in 2011. Ok, that’s only one news story, but I love the idea of Angela Merkel “liking” Vladimir Putin’s kitten pics. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2012, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-president-use-email/640346/11 "2012-11-08T19:32:27Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > The G20 leaders have their own social network: > > [Obama and G20 leaders use secret Facebook-style network – Channel 4 News](http://www.channel4.com/news/obama-and-g20-leaders-use-secret-facebook-style-network) > > Ok, that’s only one news story, but I love the idea of Angela Merkel “liking” Vladimir Putin’s kitten pics. When Putin and Obama unfriend one another within minutes, it’s time to duck and cover. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2012, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-president-use-email/640346/12 "2012-11-08T19:36:56Z")
The president and his team emailed me several times a day through the last month of the campaign. I kept meaning to block him but I was too lazy. ---
**Author:** ![Stormcrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/0ea827/32.png) [@Stormcrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stormcrow)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2012, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-president-use-email/640346/13 "2012-11-08T19:42:34Z")
When Obama was first elected I remember some articles about him wanting to keep his access to his blackberry (my how the world has changed in four years) so he could continue to email his friends, etc. There were some serious security issues around doing this but the White House IT team was working on it. I have no idea how that turned out, nor do I have cites for the articles… ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2012, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-president-use-email/640346/14 "2012-11-08T19:43:40Z")
His twitter feed is the bomb. Biden is just now figuring out MySpace. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2012, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-president-use-email/640346/15 "2012-11-08T20:14:19Z")
He got a super secure Blackberry. [http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/04/obama-to-get-back-blackberry-at-last-toughened-by-nsa/](http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/04/obama-to-get-back-blackberry-at-last-toughened-by-nsa/) > [@Stormcrow](#): > > When Obama was first elected I remember some articles about him wanting to keep his access to his blackberry (my how the world has changed in four years) so he could continue to email his friends, etc. There were some serious security issues around doing this but the White House IT team was working on it. I have no idea how that turned out, nor do I have cites for the articles… ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2012, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-president-use-email/640346/16 "2012-11-08T22:10:49Z")
> [@Crazyhorse](#): > > Well, I guess it won’t be betraying the trust between the President and I to show this to you. He emails me regularly, and we’re even on a first name basis. > > He turns to me occasionally when he needs my support because, well, he believes in me and often the outcomes of his important goals depend on me. > > \ > > [Here are some others](http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/series/all-the-presidents-emails) documented in a piece by the Guardian. He keeps up with his friends by snail-mail too. I got friendly snail-mails from my friend Barry also. ETA: One can hardly slam the door on an old friend, can one? If my buddy Barry ever finds himself in a financial bind, he’s welcome to come sleep on my couch for a few days.