White House Disables Snitch Program After Massive Outcry
Following a furor over how the data would be used, the White House has shut down an electronic tip box — flag@whitehouse.gov — that was set up to receive information on “fishy” claims about President Barack Obama’s health plan.
E-mails to that address now bounce back with the message: “The e-mail address you just sent a message to is no longer in service. We are now accepting your feedback about health insurance reform via http://www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck.”
The “flag” service was introduced Aug. 4, with a White House blog post saying: “There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.”
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said at a briefing shortly after the service launched: “We’re not collecting names from those e-mails. … All we’re asking people to do is if they’re confused about what health care reform is going to mean to them, we’re happy to help clear that up for you. Nobody is keeping anybody’s names.”
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, wrote a letter to Obama raising privacy concerns about what the senator called an “Obama monitoring program.”
“I can only imagine the level of justifiable outrage had your predecessor asked Americans to forward e-mails critical of his policies to the White House,” Cornyn wrote. “So I urge you to cease this program immediately.”
In a later statement, Cornyn said: “Of course the White House is collecting names. … It is inevitable. Anyone with access to the flag@whitehouse.gov account has access to the names and email addresses that are collected in that account. … How are they purging names and e-mail addresses from this account to protect privacy?”
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“We’re not collecting names from those e-mails. … All we’re asking people to do is if they’re confused about what health care reform is going to mean to them, we’re happy to help clear that up for you. Nobody is keeping anybody’s names.”
In a later statement, Cornyn said: “Of course the White House is collecting names. … It is inevitable.
Cornyn has it correct, only he’s too polite. We already know that if their LIPS ARE MOVING, they’re LYING.
Ergo: They got enough names. They got THEM ALL as far as they know. How many emails does it take to CLOG a server? Thousands? Hundreds of Thousand? Millions? Depends on the Server and the connection.
Anybody here believe that The Joker didn’t spend as many MILLIONS of OUR MONEY for a THOUSAND Servers and multiple T3’s?
Gimme a break …
i think if it the email hits the email server and is kicked back a copy is still on the email server. any of the IT types out there confirm?
Yes, emails & logins are stored in cache.
Besides, it’s already a known fact that the Gov can listen in on ANY type of communications device made today. Even if you’re not using your Cell Phone, they can turn on the mike & listen to the room
THEY, have also had a Word Activated program on most of the servers in the U.S. that will notify THEM if certain words are used in an email, or a blog, or on social sites.
Can You Say “1984″ ??
shit, every bit of info sent/received is sniffed (read for key words). There are so many servers, hubs, routers, etc…. that an email (or web request) goes through and all data is snooped. encoding is just an annoyance. Hell yes,that data is easily mirrowed several times.
What about husbands?
Hey shooter…You think “joker” may be one of those certain words?
Snitches get stitches.
I can say that I for one am more than fed up with the manner of this entire administration. One by one they are slamming the doors on liberties and privacy with their iron fist mentality. People across the country have reached saturation on what they will tolerate and it has only just begun. A friend sent this link to me last evening and it will make those of you whom haven’t seen it livid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAOBlqUqUZ8
Now when we combine the actions of this link with changes Obama has made in the manner of dealing with “perceived threats to security” and how he plans to make it legal to have someone arrested on actions they are “likely” to commit, (before any crime committed) we are now in a police state. Join arms brothers and sisters, we have much work to do.
“he plans to make it legal to have someone arrested on actions they are “likely” to commit, (before any crime committed)”
Minority Report
This is just MY opinion…
REMOVE ALL Lawyers from the picture, and THEN we NORMAL American Citizens will have OUR Country back.
It is the Attorneys making things the way they are, Elitist who Make The Laws to Bennefit themselves and THIER Friends.
Remember : Lawyers do two things…
They Litigate and They Manipulate
I am more worried about these clowns gerrymandering the census to give them an unfair advantage in the next election.
They have taken over the Census Bureau and made it part of their cabinet. Just by doing that it shows how important this agency is to them and telegraphs some type of political action. Given how they continue to relentlessly try to ram through a big government healthcare program with such a public outcry in opposition, it is clear that they know they have an unpopular agenda that they are not crazy about talking of in open debate. From this you can only assume that they are cagey enough to try and rig the population demographics of the census in their favor. If that happens then secession may not be so far-fetched in fly-over county anymore.
I love it when I get into huge arguments with my far-left family members and then am almost immediately proven right. A week ago, I got into it big-time with my brother about this program saying that it reeks of Orwellianism. He kept saying, “well, why CAN’T the govt. correct misinformation?”. I kept pointing out that this went way past what’s allowed in the Constituton. Point me.
Word is that when you email flag@whitehouse.gov they provide a forwarding email addy where you can snitch.
My guess is the new addy is OFFSITE– i.e. not at the Whitehouse. Let’s remain vigilante.
Something like this absolutely WILL NOT go away. It will only be renamed.
Exactly right. The White House and Google are joined at the hip. The White House Director of New Media Macon Phillips, a prep school creep himself, has ‘hired away’ a Google program manager (don’t recall her name) to be in charge of data mining for Barry.
Any Constitutional right to privacy you thought you had is under attack from many angles by the corrupt Progressives.
This is exponentially worse than Watergate, but they get a pass. This collection of information and snitching has absolutely no nexus to national security threats.
This is the same nunch of sinister bastards that flung one right-wing facist allegation after another about national security monitoring and surveillance initiatives during the Bush Presdiency, the same initiatives they obstructed and sonewalled right up until 9/10/2001.
This is incredible, this is not East Fermany. Oh wait, Obama is involved. No further questions your honor.