Obama Administration Archiving Facebook, Twitter and YouTube comments.

[archangel689]

I have suspected this for quite some time actually. If you wonder, delete a message in your inbox in Facebook, and have the person whos message you deleted send you another message with the same title. You'll see a button for "Show all Deleted messages" something which should never exist, had the messages truly been removed from facebooks databases. I suspect facebook doesn't ever actually delete anything.




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http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...cube_position1

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.

[LorDiego01]

sign.. grasping at straws here...

if anybody bothered to read the EULA when you sign up for such services, you'd realize this is not only old-news...

its just not news at all.

NEWS-FLASH. Everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING that enters the collective of the internet will somehow, somewhere, be backed up. If all that fails, there is always Google-cache.

[ChamberedRound]

sign.. grasping at straws here...

if anybody bothered to read the EULA when you sign up for such services, you'd realize this is not only old-news...

its just not news at all.

NEWS-FLASH. Everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING that enters the collective of the internet will somehow, somewhere, be backed up. If all that fails, there is always Google-cache.

I'm not a user of any of these services, what does the EULA say?

It's well-known that companies store this stuff for some period of time to data mine and what not, but that doesn't necessarily give the federal government the right to it (unless there's a waiver of some kind in the EULA).

[Dredly]

hahahah seriously... this is NOT an Obama thing, hell this isn't a Bush thing. The .gov has been capturing EVERYTHING that is posted on the net as an archive for years

http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.pafoa.org

[MTechnik]

Isn't all communication to/from the white house recorded somewhere? Whether it comes in via the mail, telephone, or from an internet web site, it you post it for the white house, I think they record it.

It's not like the white house is scouring all of facebook and recording private information, but if you post it on the white house's facebook "wall", it's there for the white house to see and record.

[kunsunoke]

sign.. grasping at straws here...

if anybody bothered to read the EULA when you sign up for such services, you'd realize this is not only old-news...

its just not news at all.

NEWS-FLASH. Everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING that enters the collective of the internet will somehow, somewhere, be backed up. If all that fails, there is always Google-cache.

You're missing the point completely.

The question of the hour is - Why are Captain Blunderful and his minions collecting that data?

And if you want to know why Blunderful isn't getting any slack cut to him - why should anyone, when he's channeling Alinsky in attacking any and all opponents?

[LorDiego01]

I'm not a user of any of these services, what does the EULA say?

Basically... and someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong..

but in plain English it would read something like...

"anything you post, upload, comment, interact, download, click on, and so forth, shall be the sole property from (insert your favorite social site here), you hereby give up all rights to anything you post, upload, comment, interact, download and click on; and when you hit the "I agree button" you hereby accept this terms and conditions."

In essence. Its like this forum.. there is no privacy here. It all belongs to DanP. Its private property, and he can deem fit to do with it as he wishes.

[LorDiego01]

You're missing the point completely.

The question of the hour is - Why are Captain Blunderful and his minions collecting that data?

And if you want to know why Blunderful isn't getting any slack cut to him - why should anyone, when he's channeling Alinsky in attacking any and all opponents?

LOL. You make it sound like snooping on the web by the .gov is a brand new thing that Mr.President Obama just mandated.

Google Echelon.

Or better yet, Google your boy Bush, and his wire-taps, snooping operations.

[1861]

Why do y'all think Al Gore invented the internet ?

[Dredly]

I'm not a user of any of these services, what does the EULA say?

It's well-known that companies store this stuff for some period of time to data mine and what not, but that doesn't necessarily give the federal government the right to it (unless there's a waiver of some kind in the EULA).

Just to ensure everyone sees this:

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.

I think its actually LAW that they record this... since its posted to their sites... Its the law folks!