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White House Blocks Twitter, and With Good Reason

by Terrence O'Brien on July 28, 2009 at 07:14 AM


Apparently, most bloggers have never had corporate jobs. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs' offhand remark last week that Twitter is blocked on White House computers prompted the legion of tech-blogs to go into full-on shaming mode in regards to the White House's IT policies.

During an interview on CSPAN, Gibbs quickly answers a question about Twitter by explaining that the micro-blogging service is blocked on White House PCs and that he himself is not on the service because he is in front of the camera often enough that people "have a decent sense" of what he is doing. This quickly prompted accusations from blogs, like ReadWriteWeb, that Gibbs clearly didn't understand the utility of Twitter. Others bemoaned the Obama administration's IT security policies as a "joke."

Of course, these are the same people who freaked out when Hillary Clinton's Under Secretary Patrick Kennedy speculated that there may be expense issues associated with switching the State Department to Firefox. These nay-sayers fail to understand that in an environment like a government office, where security is paramount, you can't simply download and install any software you like. Firefox would have to be rigorously tested, made to comply with government record-keeping regulations, and fitted with a custom installer that would allow it to be installed across many PCs with the same settings. So, while Firefox is a free download, it wouldn't be free to get it ready for deployment in an enterprise environment.

As Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton explained to Mediaite, the issues with Twitter are "a little bit of recordkeeping [sic] a little bit of security." Firstly and most obviously, in a sensitive environment such as the White House, controlling the flow of information to the outside world is extremely important. Secondly, Twitter is not immune to malware, viruses, and scams. Then there is the Presidential Records Act, which requires all White House communications to be saved. Abiding by these rules would prove difficult on an external service such as Twitter.

Bill Burton also told Mediaite that the blockage was not complete; the White House new media team has access to the service. Burton also said that he was working with the Office of Administration's new Chief Information Officer to relax some of the restrictions.

Not only is the White House's blocking Twitter unsurprising, but it also makes perfect sense. Unfortunately, the blogosphere seems to prefer knee-jerk reactions to thoughtful analyses. [From: ReadWriteWeb, LA Times, and Mediaite]

Tags: security, top, twitter, white house, WhiteHouse

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