Posted on 09/15/2009 11:54:02 PM PDT by Tulsa Ramjet
The White House is collecting and storing comments and videos placed on its social-networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube without notifying or asking the consent of the site users, a failure that appears to run counter to President Obama's promise of a transparent government and his pledge to protect privacy on the Internet.
Defenders of the White House actions said the Presidential Records Act requires that the administration gather the information and that it was justified in taking the additional step of asking a private contractor to "crawl and archive" all such material. Nicholas Shapiro, a White House spokesman, declined to say when the practice began or how much the new contract would cost.
In a June 5, 2008, article in PC Magazine, Mr. Obama said, "The open information platforms of the 21st century can also tempt institutions to violate the privacy of citizens. We need sensible safeguards that protect privacy in this dynamic new world."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Obama supports extending Patriot Act provisions
By DEVLIN BARRETT (AP) 14 hours ago
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i9LLhtcanBcNhniDqSpnQljdFVogD9ANTS1O4
On the Administrations Willingness to Consider PATRIOT Act Reforms
WASHINGTON - September 15 - The Department of Justice has responded to a letter from U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Russ Feingold (D-WI), in which the Senators asked the Attorney General to consider bipartisan reforms to the USA PATRIOT Act that they have proposed, and which were supported by President Obama when he was in the Senate. In its response, the Department of Justice indicated willingness to consider reforms to the USA PATRIOT Act. Senators Feingold and Durbin, who plan to introduce legislation soon, released the following statement after receiving the response:
We welcome the administrations willingness to consider additional safeguards for surveillance powers that have been vastly expanded in recent years. Congress should revise the USA PATRIOT Act and related authorities to better protect the constitutional rights of American citizens, while preserving the powers of our government to fight terrorism. After the Inspector General reports documenting rampant misuse of National Security Letters, there can no longer be any doubt that granting overbroad authority leads to abuses. We must take this opportunity to get it right, once and for all. And we must be able to have a meaningful public debate so that the American people and their representatives in Congress can understand how these authorities have actually been used and make informed decisions about how they should be used in the future.
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2009/09/15-5
Bull sh**. They’re collecting it “to figure out how people react” and to “assign race, wealth and geographical values”. IOW, the racist-in-chief wants to gain total control over his “enemies” (we, the people) so he can carry out his community “initiatives”. He’s definitely up to something. It’s discriminatory and frightening, to say the least.
THAT is a given.
Ever since I’ve been here which has been at least 10 years, you assume big brother is watching.
The best way to gauge it is if something is mentioned on FR and all of a sudden you see a response from the WH. Happened during Clinton and a couple of times with Zero.
Time for people to learn how to use anonymous proxy servers and email services.
"You lie!"
As I've said before, about both Clinton and Zero, "He could shotgun murder a gaggle of praying nuns on the White House lawn at high noon in front of the cameras of every American news network (except Fox), while high on tequila and cocaine, and no one would ever hear about it."
“visit any website where they have a presence.”
you don’t think they are here? i’ve noticed several things on my little site. the white house press room twitter on ours, and multiple visits from the us house of representatives.
to think there not on here? they’re EVERYWHERE. They have the power to shut everyone of us down.
Anybody who thought it wouldn’t come to this is naive. And you can bet your bippy that THIS site is watched, copied and pasted or whatever means necessary, is being done.
I don’t subscribe to social networking sites for this very reason.
Bottom line, I’m prepared if the doo-doo hits the fan and ‘the list’ goes out to the minions to reign in dissenters.
Actually, this privacy invasion is a good platform item for the next presidential election. Here is his spokesman, who can’t state when it started,..and how much it costs, both financially and to the personal security of the american people.
LOL!
Ya think?
Forgot to add:
FUBO
;-)
LOL, love that pic. Are you also a member of Arfcom?
I refuse to be afraid or intimidated by Obama collecting stuff on me. If they want to start something let them - I’m not going to hide in my basement, I’m going down swinging.
Do I like what they’re doing? No. But it’s not going to shut me up either.
LQ
ITS??? Facebook does not belong to the White House. Twitter does not belong to the White House. YouTube does not belong to the White House. How can the article claim possession when none exists?
This spying on the general public is expected - after all, how can Obama keep track of the millions that don't trust him if he doesn't track them?
hmmmm, well duh, Cloward-Piven saying the opposite of what they are doing...well that’s a first. Keep speaking out against it...
I'm surprised anybody is upset about the WH viewing and/or preserving public websites. The whole point of making a statement in public (rather than in private) is to air the statement to a wide audience.
When I was bothering to watch Congress, I kept my notes on a blogsite (cboldt.blogspot.com), and a substantial fraction of the visits (maybe even most) were from government-related IP addy's. Didn't bother me in the least.
I’d like to see the file the W. H. has on the Free Republic; I’m sure we’re all in The One’s crosshairs.
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