Since they are collecting all videos, comments and web data. Here is my message to them:
You are the most pathetic form of Government in this generation and your borrowed time will soon come to an end at the next ballot box.
I cannot wait until you are a bad memory of the past!
I want my country back from your Socialist Fucks!
- DocManJay
Obama Collecting Web Users' Data
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.
The Washington Times
FOXNews.com
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
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."
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.