August 5, 2009
Obama’s Snitch Program, Why Does He Want E-mail, Blog and Web Site Info of His Critics?


Why exactly did Obama initiate a “Snitch on your fellow citizen to the White House” program?

Is it really to correct ‘misleading’ and “fishy” statements about Obama’s health care plan?

Is it to intimidate opposition into silence?

Does Obama want to provoke some kind of conflict?

Why report blogs and e-mails and ISPs to the White House?

A letter that Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) sent to Obama and posted on the Weekly Standard Blog got me thinking, and the answer to WHY Obama wanted an online snitch program – may be more frightening than the notion of snitching itself.

First a snippet of the letter from Cornyn:
Scathing letter to Obama.
…I am not aware of any precedent for a President asking American citizens to report their fellow citizens to the White House for pure political speech that is deemed “fishy” or otherwise inimical to the White House’s political interests.

I respectfully request an answer to the following:
How do you intend to use the names, email addresses, IP addresses, and identities of citizens who are reported to have engaged in “fishy” speech?

How do you intend to notify citizens who have been reported for “fishy” speech?

What action do you intend to take against citizens who have been reported for engaging in “fishy” speech?

Do your own past statements qualify as “disinformation”?

For example, is it “disinformation” to note that in 2003 you said: “I happen to be a proponent of a single-payer universal health care plan”?

I look forward to your prompt response.
Cornyn asks some question that just got my hairs standing up on end considering another data-gathering practice Obama has incorporated using the Broadband Data Improvement Act of 2008.

The Act compiles a map of the nation showing which areas have broadband internet and which do not. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration is charged with collecting this data, but the Obama Administration has decided to use the NTIA to get more data than the law requires.

Beyond the general data on which parts of the nation have high speed internet access and if it is cable or DSL, Obama wants to know down to the individual what the individual has and how much the individual pays for the service. Specifically, the NTIA requires internet provides to give the government “average revenue per end user and data regarding type, technical specification or location of broadband infrastructure,” i.e. your home address, IP address, how much you pay, and where the connection is at your house.

The law does not require this data be collected. Congress does not want or need it. The NTIA admits the information will not be used to compile the map of national broadband as the BDIA requires, but Barack Obama still wants this data.

Why?

Well…
The White House is asking neighbors to turn in neighbors by forwarding emails, blog and forum sites of which IP address information can be gleaned.

We have a White House collecting data from internet providers through the Broadband Data Improvement Act of 2008, which gives them the home addresses corresponding to those IP addresses.

We have a White House that has been extremely vague and secretive despite pledges of transparency about what they intend to do with this data.

We have a White House that has not hesitated to use private citizens information as a weapon against them. Might your address be given to a busload of ACORN Community Organizers for ‘correcting’ your “fishy” information about Obama’s plans and policies?

The math may not be that hard to do.