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Prez Will Keep His BlackBerry

Spy-proof smartphone tech means Obama won't have to give up beloved 'BarackBerry'

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Jan 22, 2009 4:13 AM CST

(Newser) – Security agents aren't going to have to pry the BlackBerry out of Barack Obama's hands after all, Marc Ambinder reports in the Atlantic. A government agency has added super-encryption technology to a standard BlackBerry, which the president will be allowed to use for routine and personal messages. It's not known if the tech-addicted president already has the device.

Obama has vowed to keep his BlackBerry, despite the concerns of some security experts. To allow him to use the device, the National Security Agency may have worked with telecommunications companies to create a new, ultra-secure digital pathway expressly for presidential messages. Obama and other White House officials will still be banned from using instant messaging.

Obama Senior Adviser David Axelrod, left, and Press Secretary-designate Robert Gibbs, center, check their BlackBerries. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Barack Obama drops his BlackBerry as he steps out of his limousine before boarding a plane at Washington's Reagan National Airport, Friday, Jan. 16, 2009,. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Barack Obama checks his BlackBerry in St. Louis, Mo., prior to a conference call with supporters gathered last year at a rally in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

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Spy-proof smartphone tech means Obama won't have to give up beloved 'BarackBerry'

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OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

Barack Obama • email • BlackBerry • smartphones • encryption • Obama administration • President Obama

MOST POPULAR STORIES

[ By Views ]

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More Newser Stories

Prez's Pimped-Out BlackBerry Nearly Ready

The NSA begins final tests on encryption software this month

Will Your Letter Reach Obama? This Guy Decides

White House correspondence head chooses 10 per day

Email Error Reveals Obama Staffers' PR Calculations

Back-and-forth over schedule shows administration's inner workings

Obama's Nightly Fix: BlackBerry Games

President plays BlackBerry game 'to unwind'

Obama's Staff Finds High Office Means Low Tech

'Kind of like going from an Xbox to an Atari,' one says of White House's rigid apparatus

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Newser By Users

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