From WNYC in New York, this is NPR's On the Media. I'm Bob Garfield.

And I'm Brooke Gladstone. The first executive order of a new president carries some heavy symbolism,

and the first executive order of President Obama was to revoke an executive order signed by President Bush, not long after 9-11. That order essentially overturned

existing law, awarding President's new and expanded powers to withhold their records after they leave office.

It even gave a president's descendants or other surrogates the right to withhold records should the president be incapacitated or dead.

Obama rolled that power back the first step in establishing what he called a new standard of

openness in the White House. Now, in an effort to enhance two-way communication with the electorate,

he has won the right to hold on to his precious Blackberry. It's a battle he's

waged for months. I want to be able to have voices other than the people who are immediately

working for me, be able to reach out and send me a message about what's happening in America.

But the presidential Blackberry poses new security and ethical issues that have yet to be ironed out.

Ari Schwartz is the Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Center for Democracy and Technology.

Ari, welcome to the show.

Thank you for having me.

So we've never had a sitting president who's used email before, have we?

Clinton and Bush both abstained.

Was it for reasons of privacy, security, personal preference, all of the above? Were they advised not to?

They were definitely advised not to. Any risk-averse lawyer will say that a president really needs to be very careful about what they write down and what is going to be kept for the historical record.

And we've heard President Bush say again and again.

He always wanted to write to his children on email while they were at college and he wasn't able to.

But that was a decision that was made looking at security issues, his own personal security,

but also the security of people that he's writing to.

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