EXCLUSIVE:
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.
Marc Rotenberg, president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said the White House signaled that it would insist on open dealings with Internet users and, in fact, should feel obliged to disclose that it is collecting such information.
“The White House has not been adequately transparent, particularly on how it makes use of new social media techniques, such as this example,” he said.
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.
Susan Cooper, a spokeswoman for National Archives and Records Administration, said the presidential records law applies to “social media” and to public comments “received by the president or immediate staff.”
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Mr. Obama signed a memo in January stating that his efforts to maintain an open government would be “unprecedented” and “ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation and collaboration.”
An Obama campaign document on technology pledged that, as president, Mr. Obama “will strengthen privacy protections for the digital age and will harness the power of technology to hold government and business accountable for violations of personal privacy.”
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.”
The National Legal and Policy Center, a government ethics watchdog, said archiving the sites would have a “chilling effect” on Web site users who might wish to leave comments critical of the administration.
Ken Boehm, a lawyer and chairman of the center, also disputed that the presidential records law applies, because the comments are pasted onto a third-party Web page and not official correspondence with the president.
“If the White House has nothing to hide, why is this cloaked in secrecy? Why won’t they make the dollar amount this is going to cost public?” Mr. Boehm asked. “I don’t think there is an expectation that this is being captured by the government and saved.”
But Patrice McDermott, director of OpenTheGovernment.org, called the proposal “a positive development because it demonstrates a commitment from the Obama administration to meet its obligations under the Presidential Records Act.”
“Additionally, I am encouraged to see the administration recognizing that it must find a way to handle the ever-expanding amount of data generated electronically. I hope the rest of the executive branch will learn from the president’s leadership on this issue,” Ms. McDermott said.
Shahid Buttar, executive director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, called for congressional oversight of the practice of collecting data.
“Given the administration’s disappointing secrecy in other contexts, the Bill of Rights Defense Committee encourages Congress to conduct oversight to ensure compliance with the law, maximize transparency and protect individual privacy,” Mr. Buttar said.
According to the law, the term “presidential records” means documentary materials “created or received by the president, his immediate staff or a unit or individual of the Executive Office of the President whose function is to advise and assist the president, in the course of conducting activities which relate to or have an effect upon the carrying out of the constitutional, statutory, or other official or ceremonial duties of the President.”
“It includes any documentary materials relating to the political activities of the president or members of his staff, but only if such activities relate to or have a direct effect upon the carrying out of constitutional, statutory, or other official or ceremonial duties of the President,” the law says.
David Almacy, who served as President George W. Bush’s Internet director, said the Bush administration did not use the then-fledgling social-networking sites in the same manner as the Obama White House, except to upload presidential speeches onto iTunes. The White House, however, did archive comments posted to its official Web site.
The proposal issued Aug. 21 calls for a contractor to “crawl and archive” social-networking Web sites where the White House maintains an official presence on seven networks: Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Flickr, YouTube, Vimeo and Slideshare.
The collection will include the comments, tags, graphics, audio and video posted by users who don’t work for the White House.
The White House has more than 333,000 fans on Facebook, and posts updates several times a day that draw hundreds of thousands of comments, both positive and negative. The White House has more than 1 million followers on Twitter and more than 87,000 subscribers on YouTube, where more than 400 videos of the president and White House briefings are posted.
But the Administration and the Attorney General will not go after ACORN? Did Tim
Geithner, Charlie Rangel and Rahm Emanuel teach ACORN the tax evasion tricks?
Dear Friend,
Last week, President Obama and his administration initiated a partisan
witch hunt of the CIA to investigate the use of interrogation
techniques on captured terrorists. This witch hunt will decimate the
morale and capability of those who have dedicated their lives to
protecting America and gathering critical information. Worst of all,
he’s putting a halt to proven techniques which were effectively used to
gather information and stop future terrorist attacks. The President’s
actions are nothing but a blatant move to put politics before national
security.
But patriots like yourself are telling the President how dangerous this
course of action is! A recent poll by Rasmussen Reports shows that a
clear majority of Americans say this politically motivated
investigation endangers national security. Yet the President continues
with his witch hunt just to appease his liberal base. Please tell the
President to end the witch hunt and the political appeasement – call
the White House at 202-456-1414.
Yours truly,
Congressman Tom Price, M.D.
“Like a cancer growing within, spreading its maligna
nt cells throughout
the body (Czars), impairing the immune system (CIA), it will slowly
starve the body (US Gov.) to death. The Islam extremists do not need
to launch an aggressive attack. They have something better! He lives
by the Shariah, not the US Constitution. He wants to change our
National Anthem. He doesn’t salute nor pledge allegiance to the US
flag. The public does not know just what oath he swore to when
inaugurated. Recall the one we saw was bobbled and he was sworn in
again privately, later. He bows to King Fahd of Saudi Arabia.
I am a bit paranoid as he wants control of the internet. God help us
all.”
“This could be a scandal of epic proportions and one that makes Nixon’s
Watergate or Clinton’s Monica Lewinsky affair pale by comparison. Why
was there neither rhyme nor reason as to which dealerships of the
Chrysler Corporation were to be closed? Roll the
clock back to the weeks just before Chrysler declared
bankruptcy. Chrysler, like GM, was in dire financial straights and
federal government graciously offered to “buy the company” and keep
them out of bankruptcy and “save jobs.” Chrysler was, in the words of
Obama and his administration, “Too big to fail,” same story with GM.”
“The feds organized their “Automotive Task Force” to fix Chrysler and
GM. Obama, in an act that is 100% unconstitutional, appointed a guy named
Steve Rattner to be the White House’s official Car Czar- literally, that’s
what his title is. Rattner is the liaison between Obama, Chrysler, and GM.”
“Initially, the national media reported that Chrysler had made this
list of dealerships. That is not true. The Washington
Examiner, Newsmax, Fox New and a host of other news agencies discovered
that the list of dealerships was put together by the “Automotive
Task Force” headed by no one other then Mr. Steve Rattner. Now the
plot thickens. Remember earlier we said earlier that there was
neither rhyme nor reason why certain dealerships were closed?
Actually there’s a very interesting pattern as to who was closed down.
Again, on May 27, 2009, The Washington Examiner and Newsmax exposed
the connection. Amazingly, of the 789 dealerships closed by the
federal government 788 had donated money, exclusively, to
Republican political causes, while contributing nothing to Democratic
political causes. The only “Democratic” dealership on the list was
found to have donated $7,700 to Hillary’s campaign, and a bit over
$2,000 to John Edwards. This same dealership, reportedly, also gave
$200.00 to Obama’s campaign. Does that seem a little odd to you?”
“Steve Rattner, the guy who put the list together. Well he happens to
be married to a babe named Maureen White. Maureen happens to be the
former national finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
As such, she would have access to campaign donation
records from everyone in the nation, Republican or Democrat. But
of course, this is just a wacky coincidence, we’re certain.”
“Then comes another really wacky coincidence. On that list
of dealerships being closed down, a weird thing happed in
Arkansas, North Louisiana, and Southern Missouri. It seems that Bill
Clinton’s former White House Chief of Staff, Mack McClarty, owns a
chain of dealership in that region, partnered with a fellow by the name
of Robert Johnson. Johnson happens to be founder of Black
Entertainment Television and was a huge Obama supporter and financier.
These guys own a half dozen Chrysler stores under the company title
of RLJ-McClarty-Landers. Interestingly, none of their dealerships
were ordered closed – not one- while all of their competing
Chrysler/Dodge and Jeep dealership were! Eight dealerships located near
the dealerships owned by McClarty and Johnson were ordered shut down.
Thus, by pure luck, these two major Obama supporters now have virtual
monopoly on Chrysler sales in their zone. Isn’t that amazing? Go
look in The Washington Examiner, the story’s there, and it’s in a dozen
or so other web-based news organization, this isn’t being made up.”
“Now if you thought Chrysler was owned by Fiat, you are truly mistaken.
Under the federal court ruling, 65% of Chrysler is now own
ed by the federal government and the United Auto Worker’s union- Fiat owns
20%.
The other 15% is till privately owned and presumably will be traded on
the stock market. Obama smiles and says he doesn’t want to run the auto
industry.”
“As horrifying as this is to comprehend, and being as how this used to
be the United States of America, it would appear that the president has
the power to destroy private businesses and eliminate upwards of
100,000 jobs, just because they don’t agree with his political agenda.
This is Nazi Germany stuff, and it’s happening right here, right now,
in your back yard. There are voices in Washington demanding an
explanation, but the “Automotive Task Force” has released no
information to the public or any of the senators demanding answers for
what has been done. Keep your ear to the ground for more on this story.
If you’ve ever wanted to make a difference about anything in your life,
get on the phone to your national senator or representative in the House and
demand an investigation on this.”
Benjamin Franklin had it right when he said, “All that’s necessary for
evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”
“Car Czar No More”
“An amazing thing happed as this story was going to press. Obama’s Car
Czar, Steve Rattner, resigned on July 13 and was promptly replaced by
former steel workers union boss Ron Bloom. According20to CBS News,
Rattner left “to return to private life and spend time with his
family.” Treasure Secretary Tim Geithner said, “I hope that he takes
another opportunity to bring his unique skills to government service in
the future.” By the way, Rattner is under investigation for a
multi-million dollar pay-to-play investment bank scandal in New York.
Uh-oh! But, we’re certain that had nothing to do with his resignation.
And, according to several news sources out there, there are rumors he’s
being investigated for what could be pay-to-play scandal involving the
closing of Chrysler and GM dealerships.
”Really?”
“Again, that couldn’t have anything to with his resignation-
that’s ridiculous! Like CBS said, this guy just wants to spend more
quality time with his family. Obama has thirty-two personally
appointed ”czars” that answer to no one but him, all of whom are acting
without
any Constitutional authority. But hey, we’re sure they all have ”unique
skills,” as Tim Geithner likes to say.”
***NO COPYRIGHT INTENDED***
Freeman talks at Brave New Books about the coming space war propelled by the fear of the coming asteroid, Apophis.
http://www.obamacrimes.info/
Ignorant Pastor in Pa. displays curch signage asking if Osama and Obama are brothers.
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I DECIDED TO BREAK AWAY FROM THE FEMA STUFF AND UPLOAD A FEW VIDEOS THAT WERE ON A DIFFERENT SUBJECT. PLEASE I WELCOME ALL YOUR OPINIONS ON THESE UPCOMING VIDEOS.