# I didn't know Presidents didn't use email **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 16, 2008, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-presidents-didnt-use-email/472959 "2008-11-16T04:21:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-presidents-didnt-use-email/472959/21 "2008-11-17T20:06:59Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > No, he stopped sending emails because, as Presidential correspondence, they would all be public record, whether they were forwarded or not. So, he can’t send letters either?:dubious: ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-presidents-didnt-use-email/472959/22 "2008-11-17T20:45:36Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > A presidential email address would almost certainly be leaked quickly, and then inundated. I’m sure it could be blocked from outside email. The problem, as I understand it, is not that they are worried about emails being forewarded. They are worried about conversations that normally would not be recorded would now be part of the public record if sent via email. I think the implication of the term “public record” is that it doesn’t have to be forwarded. Those emails would simply be available to anyone who asked as subject to Freedom of Information Act. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-presidents-didnt-use-email/472959/23 "2008-11-17T21:06:12Z")
Suppose someone got an email account at the White House called “Renegade” or some such. Starts sending/receiving email to staff. While officially, no one would know who “Renegade” is, people might suspect. Presumably, the White House has (high grade) wireless routers, a laptop can have it’s MAC address changed, etc. Outside of the fact of logging in, no traces of who is actually “Renegade” can be proven. Of course, Presidents can be required to be deposed. (That sentence doesn’t sound right for some reason.) So a suspected “Renegade” might have to worry about testifying under oath about “Did you send this email?” “On the Internet, no one knows you’re the President.” * * * As to locking things up with encryption. If a person can read it on a PC-type device, then it can be saved, copied, etc. The only semi-fix is to lock in to limited protected hardware as mentioned above. But even then, if it’s on a screen and the receiver has a digital camera, presto copy-o. Throw in Govt. rules on accessibility, then the system would also have to allow other ways of “reading” the email, which would allow even more holes. * * * But I keep thinking of poor Scarlett Johansson. Who’s going to email her now? Tell you what Mr. President-elect. Give me her email address and I’ll take over emailing her. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-presidents-didnt-use-email/472959/24 "2008-11-17T21:19:45Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > I suspect that Obama, as President, will be just too busy to do email personally. > > I have worked with the head of a much smaller government agency, and he hardly ever responded to email himself. Most often, his email was printed out, he took it with him & looked at it during meetings, travel time, etc., and scribbled notes on it to various staff members on how to respond. Then he’d drop it off with his secretary, who would forward the email & his note to the appropriate staff person. They would then respond (usually tvia email) to the original sender. So email was received & sent, but very rarely by this executive – he was just too busy. > > I would imagine that same situation is even more true for the President. He’s just too busy to be sitting down typing out responses to emails, and he has available a horde of secretaries & aides who can attend to this for him. But by all accounts, Obama’s a Crackberry addict; he could read them whenever he has a spare moment and reply directly if he wanted to, in the same time it took your guy to write notes to the secretary. I’m not clear on where the “allowed to” that I’ve seen in so many articles is coming from. Who’s making these rules, and do they have the force of law? I’d think that being aware of the possible public consumption would be enough, and then the man’s got to watch what he types the same way he watches what he says when “the microphone is off”, when he’s at a state function, or when an interviewer shouts at him from a crowd. Really, why does, “Michelle, Malia’s play got moved to 6:00, can you make sure Mrs. Potts knows I’ll need my blue suit pressed and ready? Kthnxbye. _terrorist fistjab_” need to be kept a state secret, anyway? Official documents oughtn’t be emailed (_cough_ EPA reports _cough_), but I don’t get why not-sensitive private ones are similarly taboo. ---
**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-presidents-didnt-use-email/472959/25 "2008-11-17T21:24:44Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > I suspect that Obama, as President, will be just too busy to do email personally. > > I have worked with the head of a much smaller government agency, and he hardly ever responded to email himself. Most often, his email was printed out, he took it with him & looked at it during meetings, travel time, etc., and scribbled notes on it to various staff members on how to respond. Then he’d drop it off with his secretary, who would forward the email & his note to the appropriate staff person. They would then respond (usually tvia email) to the original sender. So email was received & sent, but very rarely by this executive – he was just too busy. I’ve had bosses like this, my current one is one, but he uses his blackberry. His [reading an e-mail on his blackberry + thumbing out a response] is much more efficient than someone [printing it, filing it, giving it to him + him reading it, scribbling a note + someone transcribing and forwarding his note]. He is not the only person who has told me that their blackberries free up time. Either way they have to read and respond to e-mails; the question of whether that’s easier with paper and staff, or blackberry, depends on the user. ---
**Author:** ![TJVM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b38774/32.png) [@TJVM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJVM)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-presidents-didnt-use-email/472959/26 "2008-11-17T22:50:41Z")
I don’t see any reason Obama couldn’t continue to use email, if he’s willing to accept the fact that his messages (including perhaps some of his personal messages) may become government records. With Clinton and Bush, I always had the impression that they just weren’t inclined to use email – they may have had email addresses at some point, but it wasn’t part of their routine (the fact that Bush had an AOL address suggests he was not too internet-savvy). Obama, however, is clearly comfortable with it. I think the security aspect is overblown. If Obama is not personally sending or receiving emails about Presidential business, then most likely someone else is doing it on his behalf (Obama gives message to staffer, staffer goes and emails the recipient). There’s no getting around the fact that sensitive information is being communicated by email; I don’t see that it changes anything if the President is doing it personally. > [@Tom Tildrum](#): > > A presidential email address would almost certainly be leaked quickly, and then inundated. That’s certainly a concern, but there are plenty of famous or prominent people who manage to use email. I imagine that some sort of strict whitelisting might be necessary (e.g., the only emails that reach him are ones from inside the White House, plus certain designated email addresses). ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-presidents-didnt-use-email/472959/27 "2008-11-17T23:09:31Z")
Is it possible to stamp an email with classification, like TOP SECRET or FOR YOUR EYES ONLY? ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-presidents-didnt-use-email/472959/28 "2008-11-17T23:25:44Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > I suspect that Obama, as President, will be just too busy to do email personally. > > I have worked with the head of a much smaller government agency, and he hardly ever responded to email himself. Most often, his email was printed out, he took it with him & looked at it during meetings, travel time, etc., and scribbled notes on it to various staff members on how to respond. Then he’d drop it off with his secretary, who would forward the email & his note to the appropriate staff person. They would then respond (usually tvia email) to the original sender. So email was received & sent, but very rarely by this executive – he was just too busy. Certain people in my much smaller government agency do the same thing- but it has more to do with comfort (and perhaps a status issue) than being busy. We’ve only gotten real email in the last two years. For the most part, those under 50 of whatever rank, send their own email. So do most of the women. The few people who don’t send their own emails tend to be older, male managers who still have their secretaries place their calls. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-presidents-didnt-use-email/472959/29 "2008-11-18T00:03:21Z")
> [@CrazyChop](#): > > Is it possible to stamp an email with classification, like TOP SECRET or FOR YOUR EYES ONLY? Yes. On Outlook there are 4 different Sensitivity settings, for example. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-presidents-didnt-use-email/472959/30 "2008-11-18T00:13:19Z")
The President probably just talks to the people directly around him and THEY send out the e-mails. ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-presidents-didnt-use-email/472959/31 "2008-11-18T01:26:21Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Yes. On Outlook there are 4 different Sensitivity settings, for example. Oh, I was thinking about classifications as per in military/intelligence documents. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-presidents-didnt-use-email/472959/32 "2008-11-18T01:39:10Z")
The current administration has faced a significant amount of controversy for doing what some of you are proposing: conducting government business on private email accounts, and then saying it was not for public consumption. It’s an issue that’s been lawyered about for some time. The problem is that politicians in general will take as much secrecy as they possibly can. While it might be a good thing if Obama could be a regular person by maintaining an email account, sooner or later you’d find a much larger-than-expected amount of government business being conducted in private when it used to be public. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-presidents-didnt-use-email/472959/33 "2008-11-18T02:43:56Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > The current administration has faced a significant amount of controversy for doing what some of you are proposing: conducting government business on private email accounts, and then saying it was not for public consumption. Who’s proposing he conduct government business on private email accounts? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-presidents-didnt-use-email/472959/34 "2008-11-18T03:00:56Z")
> [@TJVM](#): > > That’s certainly a concern, but there are plenty of famous or prominent people who manage to use email. I imagine that some sort of strict whitelisting might be necessary (e.g., the only emails that reach him are ones from inside the White House, plus certain designated email addresses). I read somewhere that this is how the president and his family get personal mail. There is a code word or number that they tell only friends and family, who write this on the envelope. So the White House staff know to deliver this correspondence. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2009, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-presidents-didnt-use-email/472959/35 "2009-01-09T03:50:14Z")
Bumping this, because the O-man has basically said, [“You’ll get my crackberry when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers.”](http://crackberry.com/president-elect-obama-not-giving-his-blackberry-without-fight) > [@](#): > > “They’re going to pry it out of my hands…You know, this town’s full of lawyers. I don’t know if you’ve noticed…and they have a lot opinions. And so I’m still in a scuffle around that, but it–look, it’s the hardest thing about being president. How do you stay in touch with the flow of everyday life…” ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2009, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-presidents-didnt-use-email/472959/36 "2009-01-09T21:22:38Z")
I just don’t see how email is really any different then snail-mail or a phone call. I can record a phone call, or copy a piece of paper, and pass them around. I can conduct public business on a private phone line. I can include confidential information in a hand written letter. Sounds like Obama is going to have to first indicate that he is capable of differentiating between private and public conversations, and then put his foot down. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-presidents-didnt-use-email/472959/37 "2009-01-10T01:16:19Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Who’s proposing he conduct government business on private email accounts? Nobody’s _proposing_ it, it’s something that would be unavoidable. As soon as you say “you can conduct private business with this account, but not government business,” you have to define what those things mean and people are going to wrangle and find loopholes. Washington is a town full of lawyers and smart people, and while the public might want transparency and clarity, the politicians don’t necessarily want that, because the more of their papers are public, the more potentially there is for embarrassment. Mind you, I _do_ think Obama should be allowed to keep a mobile device and an email account. His reasoning is correct: he needs to be able to get out of the bubble of advisers. Saying he can’t email or have a BlackBerry makes about as much sense as saying he should have to travel by horsedrawn buggy, because planes can crash. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-presidents-didnt-use-email/472959/38 "2009-01-10T01:42:42Z")
> [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](#): > > [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/us...kberry.html?hp](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/us...kberry.html?hp) > > This is a NY Times article about Obama having to give up email. > > I just assumed Presidents used email. Email, really, only became widely used under Clinton; compared to the numbers today, the number of people using email during Clinton’s administration is minuscule. > > So how does the President communicate? Really, the only question is how does Bush communicate? He’s really the first President during wide use of email (and the World Wide Web). > > I can’t imagine this moratorium on email will continue. Still, though…what exactly is the rule with Presidential communication? Even if he used PGP, would Obama’s email still be public record? > > Forgive all the ignorance this post implies…it’s new to me. Presidents don’t do email. Shocking but true. What is really shocking is this fact hasn’t led to laws that protect one’s privacy regarding email. But as of now, anyone can get emails with a subpoena. The President’s emails would be available to every congressional committee and outside group with a lawyer and an ax to grind. Heck, even the President’s private conversations can be seized. Secret Service agents have been forced into court to testify about private conversations they might have overheard while protecting the president. One of Bush’es last emails he sent to his friends before becoming president was a farewell telling them he had been advised that he had to give it up for his own protection. Such is the life we live in. ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-presidents-didnt-use-email/472959/39 "2009-01-10T01:50:04Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > Still **not** a legal requirement for him to “cease and desist,” however, and there are rules about the public getting them, and given this Administrations refusal to turn over documents even when ordered to by the courts, I have a hard time believing that Bush was worried about them being examined through _official_ channels. I don’t think anyone is saying that there is a legal requirement preventing him from using email. I am sure there is not. But the privacy breech is so large that no President could afford to use email. It will be hard but I don’t think he will do it. Now, there may by a lot of odd messages posted by his secretary from a laptop that just happens to be temporarily sitting in his office, but surely the President wouldn’t resort to trying to hide his communications… As for Bush, he came in on the heels of Clinton who had suffered a lot of intrusion into his life (not going to argue about whether it was justified) and at the time Bush thought he might be held to the same standard. After 9/11 happened and Bush got to declare war on the enemy he could hide anything behind national security. But that opportunity hadn’t arisen yet. ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-presidents-didnt-use-email/472959/40 "2009-01-10T01:53:29Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > I suspect that Obama, as President, will be just too busy to do email personally. > > I have worked with the head of a much smaller government agency, and he hardly ever responded to email himself. Most often, his email was printed out, he took it with him & looked at it during meetings, travel time, etc., and scribbled notes on it to various staff members on how to respond. Then he’d drop it off with his secretary, who would forward the email & his note to the appropriate staff person. They would then respond (usually tvia email) to the original sender. So email was received & sent, but very rarely by this executive – he was just too busy. > > I would imagine that same situation is even more true for the President. He’s just too busy to be sitting down typing out responses to emails, and he has available a horde of secretaries & aides who can attend to this for him. that is not really done (in my opinion) because of time constraints. It is done so that the head can deny, or more properly simply point out, that he didn’t say any such thing in the email. It is all about deniability, not time management. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-presidents-didnt-use-email/472959.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-presidents-didnt-use-email/472959.md?page=3)