# Why doesn't the secret service want Obama to keep his Blackberry?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-secret-service-want-obama-to-keep-his-blackberry/475373>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 2, 2008, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-secret-service-want-obama-to-keep-his-blackberry/475373 "2008-12-02T18:46:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\
**Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-secret-service-want-obama-to-keep-his-blackberry/475373/21 "2008-12-03T00:21:44Z")

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Because Obama is regarded as a “rock star” President, and Blackberry and others want to publicly use the fact Obama uses their product.

Just like everyone knows if you wear sneakers with Michael Jordon’s name on it, you instantly become a better basketball player 🙂

That’s why it’s an issue

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**Author:** ![pmwgreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@pmwgreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pmwgreen)\
**Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-secret-service-want-obama-to-keep-his-blackberry/475373/22 "2008-12-03T03:39:59Z")

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> [@aaelghat](#):
>
> Even if he chooses a Blackberry device that has GPS, GPS is just a receiver of signals from the GPS satellites. Nobody else should be able to track him from that, but theoretically people could track him by triangulating the cellular signals the device is receiving assuming they had access to the phone carriers systems. \<snip\>

I have to assume they are worried about tracking via cell-phone towers, especially if the Blackberry servers are in Canada. You might not need an actual location, just a verification he’s in, say, Chicago, and you could start guessing from there.

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**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\
**Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-secret-service-want-obama-to-keep-his-blackberry/475373/23 "2008-12-03T03:46:50Z")

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Looks like it’s not the USSS which is driving this issue; it’s Obama’s own transition team: [http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/11/17/obama.blackberry.ap/index.html?iref=newssearch#cnnSTCText](http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/11/17/obama.blackberry.ap/index.html?iref=newssearch#cnnSTCText)

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**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\
**Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-secret-service-want-obama-to-keep-his-blackberry/475373/24 "2008-12-03T09:00:48Z")

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Wasn’t there controversy in the past few years over some of Bush’s advisers (or perhaps Cheney) using Blackberries when they shouldn’t have?

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