Thursday, September 3, 2009

Another Attempt To Destroy Our Freedom Of Speech


Gosh, I'm tired of this evil government!! I wish they would get a life and quit trying to screw with mine (and yours).

Here's something else y'all need to be concerned about. They want to squish our freedom of speech and spew it out their backsides.

Y'all had better be concerned and keep writing (as Marydon sez put a stamp on it, e-mails are being ignored in some quarters), calling, PRAYING and anything else one can think of to fight this tyrannical government.

Left Coast Rebel posted this on his blog recently. He got it from the Memorandum site, and I quote:

Obama White House Has Secret Plan To Harvest Personal Data From Social Networking Websites

NLPC has uncovered a plan by the White House New Media operation to hire a technology vendor to conduct a massive, secret effort to harvest personal information on millions of Americans from social networking websites.

The information to be captured includes comments, tag lines, emails, audio, and video. The targeted sites include Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr and others – any space where the White House “maintains a presence.”

In the course of investigating procurement by the White House New Media office, NLPC discovered a 51-page solicitation of bids that was filed on Friday, August 21, 2009. Filed as Solicitation # WHO-S-09-0003, it is posted at FedBizzOps.com. Click here to download a 51-page pdf of the solicitation.

While the solicitation specifies a 12-month contract, it allows for seven one-year extensions. It specifies no dollar cap. Other troubling issues include:

extremely broad secrecy terms preventing the vendor from disclosing to the public or the media what information is being captured and archived (page 7, “Restriction Against Disclosure”)

----- wholesale capturing of comments by non-White House staff on publicly accessible sites

------ capturing of content of any type (text, graphics, audio, or video)

------ capturing of comments by both Obama critics and supporters, with no restriction as to how the White House would use the information.

This is the third controversy involving the White House internet operations in less than a month. First, Obama’s New Media operation asked supporters to send information about critics of the White House health care effort to a White House email. This provoked a storm of criticism and the White House retreated. Then large number of people complained of getting email spam from the White House supporting the President’s health care position. Again the White House was forced to back down.

Now the same people at the White House are at it again with an ambitious plan to harvest huge amounts of information from the web and specifically social networking sites.

Given the White House’s recent abuse of its New Media operations, this huge, new secretive program is yet another sign that this Administration is at best indifferent to privacy rights and at worst prepared to violate civil liberties for political purposes.

Perhaps anticipating negative reaction to the invasiveness of the plan, a justification is provided in a Q&A. section of the solicitation. Question #9 reads:

The Presidential Records Act does not require the storage or archiving of non-EOP content, as such is there a specific reason as to why the content provided on EOP related websites in the form of comments is included in these archiving procedures?

Answer: The PRA includes in its definition of presidential records content ―received by PRA components and personnel. Out of an abundance of caution, we are treating comments made by non-PRA personnel on sites on which a PRA component has a presence as presidential records, requiring them to be captured or sampled.

Of course, this interpretation of the Presidential Records Act is so expansive that virtually any communication mentioning the president or the Administration could become subject to collection and archiving under the Act. This is not out of an “abundance of caution,” but out of an over-abundance of power. President Obama should make sure that this plan goes no further.

See also CNN 'Expert' Lamely Claims to 'Debunk' NLPC on White House Data Harvesting From Social Networks.

6 comments:

  1. My sweet friend, what happened to the sweet? Maybe you need a government hiatus so you can blog about the fun stuff again. All this gov garbage is ugly to digest day after day so I only watch 30 minutes of news a day otherwise it just gets on my nerves.

    Remember when you did Sunday movie reviews and silly cartoons and pictures of your lovely porch? How are you doing since your neighbor died?

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  2. I have yet to find any significant data on social networking sites. I would hate to be the one tasked with trying to find anything worth placing in a manila envelope there. Pappy

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  3. Janeen ~ I would love to forget about this Administration. And I'm still sweet ... it's the government that is not. I promised God He can use me according to His will "Here I am Lord". Apparently, this is my calling and I will not deny Him. If we all don't keep fighting and bringing this bacteria to light, it will fester and grow under the surface and your children & children's children will grow up under Fascism and fear. I'm sure you don't want that.

    I still miss my neighbors. Sometimes it hurts to drive by their places (we've lost 2 sets of neighbors all within a few weeks of each other). I especially feel angry at Linda sometimes for leaving like that but I'll get over it. Aw well.

    Pappy ~ I know what you mean "I pity the poor fool" that has to do that. But, you know, a lot of us are discussing what's going on with Obuma at FB. And I'm a member of many Chrisitan and pro Constitution sites (I'm such a rebel). Apparently, loving God and obeying the Constitution makes me a subversive? Who knew!

    Thanks y'all for stopping by and leaving me your as always brillant comments. I treasure you all very much. :)

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  5. Opps, this thing hiccuped and posted twice. Sorry. :P

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  6. By the way, I lurve your new fall banner!

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⭐ A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out. ~ Walter Winchell