Blackberry phones at $20 a piece. There were only 10 left. All of the batteries had died. There were no chargers for sale. But people were snatching them up. So, we bought a couple.McCain Campaign Sells Info-Loaded Blackberry to FOX 5 Reporter (via Memex 1.1)And ended up with a lot more than we bargained for.
When we charged them up in the newsroom, we found one of the $20 Blackberry phones contained more than 50 phone numbers for people connected with the McCain-Palin campaign, as well as hundreds of emails from early September until a few days after election night.
We traced the Blackberry back to a staffer who worked for "Citizens for McCain," a group of democrats who threw their support behind the Republican nominee. The emails contain an insider's look at how grassroots operations work, full of scheduling questions and rallying cries for support.
But most of the numbers were private cell phones for campaign leaders, politicians, lobbyists and journalists.
We called some of the numbers.
"Somebody made a mistake," one owner told us. "People's numbers and addresses were supposed to be erased."
"They should have wiped that stuff out," another said. But he added, "Given the way the campaign was run, this is not a surprise."
McCain-Palin campaign dumps Blackberries loaded with personal numbers, internal email
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Given the ample indications the campaign gave that they had no understanding of the internet, computers, or any aspect of IT, I am not at all surprised.
This is definitely why they don't let POTUS use a blackberry... remember how BO had to give his up?
Interestingly it will not be McCain's Blackberry - because McCain doesn't use his own computer.
The paydirt is if the Obama's campaign sold Barack's iPod loaded with all of his personally written emails. As it stands you'll have to find McCain's typewriter or pen and people will notice it.
Maybe McCain was on to something when he said he didn't use email himself.
Nonsense, someone just neglected to be thorough. On an individual basis it's really easy to wipe a BlackBerry:
Options -> Security Options -> General Settings.
Click the trackball, and then click Wipe Handheld.
Click Continue, and then type "blackberry".
Furthermore, refusing to use technology, rather than assuring that the technology is actually secure is just buck passing on behalf of the mobile phone industry (both the networks and phone producers). Why isn't a BlackBerry secure enough for the President to use? How vulnerable are the rest of us as a result?
(And where is my ZRTP voice encryption for Android phones?)
I suspect this comment thread is going to quickly fill up with a lot of "haha look how thearesostupideeevilrepublicanscan'tusecomputers" and other such juvenellia but there is an important issue here.
This is going to become a huge deal in the future with the spread of highly capable mobile devices. Snatch one Blackberry off a table and you could have access to incredible amounts of data.
Nixon would never have had to have people break into the Watergate hotel if he could have simply had a low level staffer join an opposing campaign and snag a phone. You could even return the phone after dumping the info and have software that forwarded you future correspondence. My guess is that Obama's campaign was little better with information security because it takes a LOT of work to have the massive communication and coordination needed for a campaign without allowing openings for data theft.
I would not be surprised that at some point in the near future we will see some very dubious "informational warfare" go on in political campaigns. Trojan horse forwarding communications from a laptop, stolen data rich phones, theft of donor lists, hacking of candidate websites. Even this campaign saw the massive exploitation of online donations and Obama cleverly (or perhaps dubiosly) turned off the address verification feature for online donations. It allows very anonymous donations but also allows anyone (think foreigners, people making multiple small contributions exceeding donation limits etc.) donate which is not exactly the same but it is the in the same realm of new problems arising from new technology.
Enoch Root -- like this, you mean?
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/07/20/shanghanese-disco-bu.html
@CORY well yes exactly like that... encryption encryption encryption and then no matter how many disco bunnies steal your blackberries its all good.
At least the Republicans are safe from any real scandal arising from this, aside from a little shaming for the campaign staffers. It isn't like a Fox reporter is going to read through the emails, looking for campaign irregularities, illegal donations, or anything else substantive.
In fact, maybe I am just paranoid, the whole story seems like an inoculation piece. Break the story, place some blame, discredit the source, and then do a little suppression:
"But we wonder-- Did we get the only Blackberry with personal campaign information in it? Or did you get one too?
Let us know by dropping an email to fox5tips@wttg.com or calling our Fox 5 News Desk at (202) 895-3280."
Zuzu: I'm not sure a private Canadian corporation can be trusted with matters of national security.
best way to wipe a blackberry is to put it in a furnace... devices with sensitive information should never be sold on... even after "wiping" them...
Poor logic: someone who worked for the McCain campaign made a mistake without McCain knowing therefore he was never qualified to be president. Uh huh.
@EMILES true it does not seem to involve McCain or his staff directly... but they probably furnished this grass roots organization with a lot of those contacts which is exactly the point. The farther information spreads the more likely it is to be leaked.
Also, who seriously thinks that corporations have nationalities? Aren't all companies worth mentioning transnational by now?
p.s. I'm reminded of Dave Foley in NewsRadio lying about being Canadian because he was obsessed with the possible accusation of his family being spies.
I'm guessing that the built-in GPS pieces of the BlackBerry package would be the sticking point for his secret service detail. Maybe the RIM engineers can whip up a 'presidential model' including some strong PGP action and removing the GPS.
WTF, they don't even bother to password protect them??? The device will wipe itself if an incorrect password is entered to many times.
Whoah, thanks for pointing out that forgetting to erase information makes an organization unqualified to run the Executive branch. I'll sure remember not to vote for those guys in the upcoming election!
Hey, wait a minute...
From my recollection, the conflict lay with the Presidential Records Act (drafted and passed because of Nixon's destruction of evidence).
It seems like the White House is having difficulty with the logistical implementation of archiving electronic communiques, in much the same way that large firms have had since the Sarbanes-Oxley Act passed into law in 2002.
What an exciting field, knowledge management.
"We traced the Blackberry back to a staffer who worked for 'Citizens for McCain,' a group of Democrats..."
Ipse dixit.
Didn't McCain invent the Blackberry?
of course,if I ran the company, a standard feature on Blackberries for political or secure use would be a Death Signal feature that a master controller could use to wipe/destroy any unit remotely. Like if they got stolen,lost or were no longer needed?
You know, like the Send All Data Home feature they all come with that keeps Blackberry on top of what their clients are doing.
From the excerpt from the article cited:
So this was a former democrat that was working for Mc Cain/Palin? I'm not sure if this episode make the staffer a dumb Republican, a dumb Democrat, or just dumb. My money is on just dumb.
A right-wing zealot could argue this was a Democrat that couldn't/didn't do as instructed, and a left-wing zealot could argue this person wasn't really a Democrat (because no true Democrat would work for Mc Cain Palin)...
I'm guessing that the built-in GPS pieces of the BlackBerry package would be the sticking point for his secret service detail. Maybe the RIM engineers can whip up a 'presidential model' including some strong PGP action and removing the GPS.
It's called a SME PED. You can use it for up to Top Secret for voice. They already exist, but the details are classified of course.
of course,if I ran the company, a standard feature on Blackberries for political or secure use would be a Death Signal feature that a master controller could use to wipe/destroy any unit remotely. Like if they got stolen,lost or were no longer needed?
There are systems that do this already. Wipe remote devices, I mean, not blow them up. That would be a very cool, though, although I wouldn't want to use it in case the sysadmin had a bad day.
That's why I'm sticking with my DynaTAC.
These were the people who were planning on running an entire country.
You forgot "into the ground".
Why isn't a BlackBerry secure enough for the President to use? How vulnerable are the rest of us as a result?
I believe you answered your own questions there - We are as vulnerable as all the presidents men need us to be.
It was that number to a taxidermist that was a little bothersome.
Re: "Into a furnace" as the only secure wipe... It depends on what the storage media is. Devices saving the data directly to SIM or other removable media are "less insecure" when disposed of. Flash media for example is prone to information being recoverable despite all wipe attempts. The most impressive to me software being PhotoRec:
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec
I have ZERO connection to the program nor any desire to make a damn cent from the link! I do wish to both warn folks that flash media is that risk we've been underwarned about- and show that there are free Open Source tools to audit what's "Really" on your flash media. With the caveat that all is at your own risk.
didn't this happen in The Omen?
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/12/13/palin.church/index.html
Especially with rewrite-sensitive media such as flash memory, the ability to make information irretrievable by securely deleting the encryption key, rather than the entire drive contents, would be a dramatic improvement.
Well, that is kind of embarassing... but don't put the screws to them too hard for it. Even Lincoln made some dumb mistakes.
Then again, Lincoln made up for them (and then some!) by being an otherwise competent and well-meaning leader.
I'm not sure I understand what I'm getting at, now that I think of it.
... and I wonder if you'd find Jim Henson in Palin's contacts.
I must say that I'm a little annoyed by the tone here. "These were the people who were planning on running an entire country"? Really? As I read it this was a third party organization made up mainly of democrats who liked McCain's politics. I suppose the main question for you all is: If McCain won the race, would “Citizens for McCain” run the entire COUNTRY?
It sucked, shouldn't have happened but comments like that are kicking them while they're down.
oh happy day; I lived to see Bush have to duck shoes thrown at him! Oh joy!
we have to learn this Iraqi journalist's name and set up a Paypal account for him.
Takuan:
I was kind of hoping one shoe would have hit just so I could make a "boot to the head" joke.
... and one more for Jenny and the wimp
there's always next time! The world has a few more weeks for payback.
in that part of the world, the insult conveyed by a slap in the face by shoe sole leather can be compared with having a bucket of pig shit emptied over your head in the USA. I couldn't think of a better gesture for the people of Iraq to use as a good bye kiss for the smirking little murderer of an entire nation.
Video of Muntadar al-Zeidi throwing a shoe at GWB.
(HA-HA!)
http://www.tk421.net/gallery/sounds/haha.wav
i must admit, i laughed my ass off when i saw the vid, just now! what a maroon. wtf was he thinking? iraq is the LAST place that stupid s.o.b. should be right now. gotta admit, though, that shifty-eyed fucker is still quick on his toes, as much as i would have loved to see that florsheim bounce off his cranium.
and thus a new icon is born. Bet them TSA screeners are gonna be nervous.
Yeah, normally Democrats are very hip people who understand tech.
See?
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081214-rod-blagojevich-champion-of-cell-phone-security.html
What's the last public appearance the Shrub will ever make? I think we should begin a Movement to have all free-thinking, decent people to be there, shoes in hand, for one final gesture.
Secret Service none too quick on the draw there. Guy had time to take off and throw not one but both shoes, and then they come pouring out of that door to... stand around next to their charge and gawk. With the shoes still sitting there behind them on the stage, about to detonate.
"As I read it this was a third party organization made up mainly of democrats who liked McCain's politics."
Naw, they were just racist dickheads who didn't have the guts to come out and say that they'd NEVER vote for a black man. At least the Ozark hillbillies voiced it.
I didn't realize McShame had any politics.