Federal Agencies and Social
Networking Sites
Are Recording Every Move
You Make Online
From WorldNetDaily.com
The Obama administration has announced plans
to lift a government ban on tracking visitors to government web sites, and
potentially, collect their personal data through the use of “cookies” – an
effort some suspect may already be in place on White House
sites.
A ban on such tracking by the federal government
on Internet users has been in place since 2000, however,
the White House Office of Management 
and
Budget now wants to lift the ban citing a “compelling need.”
In fact, according to the Electronic Privacy
and Information Center (EPIC), federal agencies have already negotiated
agreements and contracts with social networking sites like Google, YouTube,
SlideShare, Facebook, AddThis, Blist, Flickr and VIMEO
to collect information on visitors for federal web sites. All of these private
companies are known to have agreements with federal agencies, but the public
has never seen them.
In public comments submitted to the Office
of Management and Budget, the EPIC notes it has obtained documents that show
federal agencies have negotiated these contracts with the private sector in
violation of “existing statutory privacy rights.” Those agencies include: Department
of Defense, Department of the Treasury, and the National Security Agency (NSA).
There are suspicions the White House is
already involved.
When White House press secretary Robert
Gibbs was recently asked by Fox News reporter Major Garrett why Americans who
had not signed up to receive any e-mails from the White House, were now
receiving e-mails from White House adviser David Axelrod promoting President
Obama’s health care plan, ‘Gibbs refused to answer the
question.’
“The Obama administration’s favorite book
seems to be ‘1984’ by George Orwell,”
said Brad O’Leary, publisher of The O’Leary
Report monthly newsletter and author of Shut Up,
According to Obama “technology czar” Vivek
Kundra, the “compelling need” driving this major policy reversal is the
administration’s desire to create “more open” government and to “enhance
citizen participation in government.”
O’Leary finds serious fault with Kundra’s
rationale. “According to the new technology czar, there is a ‘compelling need’
to do this,” said O’Leary. “The only compelling need I can think of is for a
failing Obama administration to compile an enemy list of gun owners,
pro-lifers, Tea Party participants, those opposed to illegal immigration, and
anyone opposed to the Obama-Pelosi agenda of government control over Americans’
lives.”
Spy cookies can do more than merely recall
the user names and passwords of visitors who return to their favorite web
sites. They can also track, retrieve and report selected movements someone
makes on the Internet. Through the use of cookies, the
federal government could have the power to create an individual profile of
anyone who visits a government web site – right down to a person’s recent
online purchases, or even race, gender and income level.
“No matter what the Obama administration
says, a ‘cookie’ is a spy device,” said O’Leary. “No matter how inoffensive the
administration says their spy devices will be, once you open the door to the
federal government spying on every American who visits a government web site,
it can’t be closed – it can only be expanded.”
According to O’Leary, if the Obama
administration is successful in lifting this ban on federal privacy invasion,
the lives of many Americans could become open books for bureaucrats. “What if a
harmless trip to the State Department’s travel web site, the White House’s health care site, or the Census Bureau’s web site results in
the Obama administration’s discovery that you are also someone who recently
visited Cabela’s, Smith and Wesson, a Tea Party or pro-life web site?” asked O’Leary.
“Is this all mundane information that political animals in government don’t
care about? Of course not. You might sooner expect a
visit from Obama’s IRS or Homeland Security than a pat
on the back for ‘participating’ in government.”
O’Leary says that it is time for Congress to
step in and pass legislation to protect the privacy rights of Americans who
could fall victim to White House spy cookies. “Because of the ‘lack of
transparency’ from the Obama White House, we are filing Freedom of Information
Act requests to determine exactly how these agencies are using spy cookies,”
said O’Leary.
If you are a member of the media and would
like to interview Brad O’Leary, email press@wnd.com.
