I don’t know about your organization but the government phone I have stinks. How bad is it? I still use a stylus. Yea, how 1980’s can you get.
But don’t think I’m just crying for an iPhone. In fact, I don’t want an iPhone. I want the telecom industry to invent a phone specifically to meet the security needs of “us Feds”.
What is my perfect phone? It’s eerily similar to the first Blackberry I was ever issued around 2002.
My perfect government phone would be-
1. A global quad band phone
2. Have a black and white screen, similar to a Kindle (helps prolong battery life)
3. Would have a mini jack for an old fashioned ear piece (no blue tooth)
4. Would obviously provide voice & SMS service
5. Would provide/sync email, calendar, contacts, and notes from my server exchange
6. Would NOT access the internet
7. Would NOT have a camera
8. Would NOT be able to access wifi
9. Would have a rugged, albeit thin, case
10. Would have an easily removable battery
I know many of you may think I’m nuts with the things I don’t want. It’s not me, I’d love those features. It’s the security community that doesn’t want those features. So let’s build a phone that will give Feds the connectivity (although limited) they need with the security they deserve.
You shouldn’t be checking in on Foursquare on your work phone anyway!
What do you think?
I think you are making an interesting point, however I argue it’s not just one “fed phone” in fact I would argue its many. Based upon your layout I can make some generalized assumptions about what you do for the government, and or that you work within an IT Security shop, however the ability to have an “open” smart phone is completely legitimate for agencies that are by their nature public. Obviously, it makes sense for those with more “sensitive” jobs to not have as much functionality that could impact OPSEC or sensitive data. However for parts of the Federal Government whose purpose in life is to be open, transparent, and socially/civically engaged with the public why is so scary to allow them to carry an “open phone?” (For the sake of discussion, “IT security reasons” is not the answer. Given today’s technology and enterprise security solutions available, I am a HUGE supporter of not allowing the answer to be the generic “IT security” as this is simply an excuse more so than anything else. Like most things digital, there is risk management to be done and the appropriate protections put into place. But, outright blocking functionality is far more draconian than we need to be these days.)
All that being said, there are multiple organizations already testing “apps” for department/agency email on personal smart phones. This allows for a secure tunnel to be provided to employees to check their unclassified email in a protected fashion all while not costing the government the cost of a complete unit. (Which anyone who works with this stuff knows the “seat cost” for a government cell phone is completely off the wall; as much as $500 to $600 a month!!)
So, isn’t the answer more so: What can government do to create apps or other solutions that can be applied to an existing phone so that there is not government specific hardware (except where it is truly needed) so users can define their usage all while saving the tax payer money?
The less cool you make the phone the more unlikely people are to use it for personal use.
Chris,
Interestingly enough I’m not in the IT Security business. In fact, I’m in public affairs! Who would have thought a public affairs person would advocate for a locked down phone??
I agree people need access to a variety of tools, social and otherwise. That’s why I have a personal smart phone with that sort of connectivity.
If there were a way to use a full featured iPhone without degrading the capability, then I’m all in. I just know the security risk may often outweigh the benefits of access. Saddly I don’t think we’ll ever get past the draconian fears of our IT people. So I challenge the telecom/handset community to develop a reasonable phone for us.
The less cool, the less likely we’ll use it for personal use. Good one Stephen!
Our organization got rid of gov cell phones. I know the taxpayers are pleased. My manager (who took over from our former manager) told me to cut off his gov blackberry. He said he didn’t need it. The savings for not using a gov cell phone allowed us to put that money back to our mission supporting the warfighter.
Why do we need specific “government smartphones?” Rather than trying to create a smartphone for Feds, why not focus our energy on creating government-specific apps that would allow us to do all of the things we need safely and securely via our personal phones? Wouldn’t that be a more sustainable innovation? A GSA-sponsored “U.S. Government” app for Feds?
Needs BBM for sure…the hidden communication gem that no one talks about
@Strong – Actually, Energy and VA have iPhones in the mix and are being used (at least as far as I know.)
@Radick – Apps is EXACTLY the answer and at least Energy has some version of a smart phone app for their users.
As I orignially stated: “.. there are multiple organizations already testing “apps” for department/agency email on personal smart phones. This allows for a secure tunnel to be provided to employees to check their unclassified email in a protected fashion all while not costing the government the cost of a complete unit. (Which anyone who works with this stuff knows the “seat cost” for a government cell phone is completely off the wall; as much as $500 to $600 a month!!)
The rumor on the street is that my organization may roll out iOS and Android phones with apps that “tunnel” into the network in the coming months. That should be an improvement.
If I can use the full functionality of the smart phone it will be great. There are plenty of productivity apps that will help me in my job, travels, etc. If they lock it down it will be a bummer, but at least I’ll have a more stable platform to access my work email.
I agree with Steve Radick on this one: use government-specific software like apps instead of altering the hardware specs. Developing a smartphone like this specifically for the government will be horribly expensive when commercial phones can just do this. Want to lock down the camera, internet, bluetooth and wifi? Okay, just use software for this instead of building a specific phone that will have no appeal to the public, thereby making it wayyyyy more expensive. Additionally, specific job categories will have uses for smartphone features like camera and internet. 2 example: PR folks snap a picture and upload it to the agency Facebook page; quality assurance engineers notice a defect in a product, snap a picture or take video and upload it to a secure agency server. Cheaper and quicker than using a dedicated camera.
If we can convince the security people that apps are the way forward then I’m all for that. If we can’t, then my first generaton Blackberry had some of the features I explained, such as the black and white screen.
As technology improves I suspect there will be software solutions to enable/disable various features of smartphones allowing off the shelf hardware use in even the most secure environments.
Thanks!
i like the idea of having apps for our personal smart phones that give us access to work e-mail and other content. If they did that, they could supplement people who would otherwise be using a government paid cell. With functional apps that worked, it would probably save lots of money. Just give authorized users $50/month or something. Perhaps they could easily create a micro-USB and iPhone jack friendly CAC readers for greater security and accessibility.
Another thing that would be nice if you used your personal cell for work, is a standard phone number that is forwarded. Like Google Voice for government or something. Everyone at your unit has (555) 222-XXXX. Then you could have greater control over work related calls and would know what kind of response to answer your phone with. (Instead of ‘WAAAAZZZZUPPP’ for your friends, you would know to say, ‘Good afternoon…’) You could also have those callers access your seperate “professional” voicemail if you are unavailable. And if you are off duty, the callers could be sent directly to voicemail or the duty person.