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White House Asks Citizens to Report Fishy Speech; Is It Legal?
Chose "Seedy Politicians" over "Opinion" because it's an opinion about seedy politicians. I've got some opinions about that, too, but this is a family blog.... Evan Coyne Malony: The Obama White House may be breaking the Privacy Act of 1974 by asking citizens to report fishy political speech. On Tuesday, Macon Phillips, President Obamas Director of New Media, wrote on the White House blog asking citizens to rat out fellow citizens who are spreading disinformation about Obamas plans for more government control over the health care system. Phillips wrote: 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 cant keep track of all of them here at the White House, were 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. One wonders, what constitutes fishy speech or disinformation? Is it anything that runs counter to what the White House wants you to think? And what, precisely, is the White House planning to do about someone whos speech has been flagged? It turns out, even asking for citizens to report on each other may be illegal. According to the Department of Justice, the purpose of the Privacy Act is to balance the governments need to maintain information about individuals with the rights of individuals to be protected against unwarranted invasions of their privacy stemming from federal agencies collection, maintenance, use, and disclosure of personal information about them. Further, anything is considered a personal record if it identifies an individual (an e-mail address would qualify), and federal agency specifically includes the Executive Office of the President. Im no lawyer, but it sure sounds like the White House is violating the law by asking people to snitch on their friends and neighbors for engaging in fishy political speech. Anyone want to try this one in court? In the meantime, Im going to report myself. Im obviously not thinking the way our Dear Leader wants... Of course they're violating the law, Evan. The law don't apply to them, don'tcha know. Laws are for Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2009-08-06 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=275994 |