White House Acknowledges Unsolicited E-Mails on Health Care

The White House for the first time Sunday somewhat acknowledged that people across the country received unsolicited e-mails last week on health care from the administration, suggesting the problem on third-party groups it claimed placed the recipients' names on the distribution list. 

In a written statement released exclusively to FOX News, White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said the White House hopes those who received the e-mails without signing up for them were not "inconvenienced" by the messages. 

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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/16/white-house-e-mail/

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The alarming part about this is that it is following the Presidents request to turn in your friends by forwarding emails of dissent toward the heathcare bill to flag@whitehouse.gov. By law, all emails sent to the whitehouse cannot legally be destroyed if you didn't know. It is also illegal for them to use that information by law except under certain circumstances...this is not one of them!

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this white house has enough liars and theives to pack a jail and the next president should make sure thats where they are put.
— ken
It's our job to put them out on the streets! Vote responsibly!
There are a few things going on...they think we are stupid, too busy to notice, think they are immune, and posess the power of God. Political Suicide is a new term they apparently don't have a good handle on.
— TechZilla
"Turn in your friends"? Seriously?
— Inside_Passage
totally serious...check out my earlier posts just a few back
— TechZilla
Techzilla - Firstly, I think you're misunderstanding where I'm coming from. I do know what you're referring to, I've read the related news about the "snitch" program. What I'm questioning is your use of the expression "turning in your friends". The people they're turning in are people whose ideologies they violently hate, ideologies of people they consider neocons, oppressors, fascists, or whatever buzz term is popular that day. Again, friends? Seriously?As for the rest, I think it's interesting to point out something I heard on Fox News the other day that .... well, it doesn't contradict you, but it's quite literally the exception to the law on records. The whitehouse is required BY LAW to keep a record of all correspondence such as the snitch line, and it must be released by the Freedom of Information Act within the required time frame.I believe it's specifically covered by a part of the exception that your quoted text indicates about law enforcement.
— Inside_Passage
The parallels between what's happening in America today with the early days of Nazi Germany are kinda scary. Reporting dissent? *sigh*
— PhoneBoy
Ok that confirms I'm not entirely a conspiracy theororist....thanks!
— TechZilla
I just wonder what it's going to take for the sheeple to wake up and smell the facism.
— PhoneBoy
If they're reporting dissent and not the dissenters, where's the problem? The only people being tracked are the people that decided they want to go down in history on permanent record at the whitehouse. Basically that means that the only records Obama and company get are a list of those who report/snitch. Kind of useless unless they decide that snitches are by nature untrustworthy and need to be dealt with. That's a hilarious thought in a twisted sort of way.
— Inside_Passage
You ever recieved a forwarded email with 200 email addresses fully exposed for harvesting? Have you been listening to what regular people are being called for merely exercising thier first ammendment rights? Can you explain how ordinary people with no personal contact with the Whitehouse recieved Whitehouse emails? Are you aware that no email sent to the Whitehouse can be destroyed legally? Do you fully believe that a 3rd party is responsible for giving the Whitehouse everybodys email address as they claim?
— TechZilla
I'll catch your questions point by point, Techzilla:1. As a matter of fact, yes, and more than 200. Daily. Spam sucks. Anybody sending -anything- to the whitehouse should be aware that their e-mail is eventually going to be available by the Freedom of Info act. I'm surprised that the spammers haven't clued in yet. Assuming they haven't.2. I certainly am listening to what regular people like myself are being called.a. If it's a liberal taking the 1st amend, they're a traitor or nazi appeaser.b. If it's a conservative taking the 1st, they're a fascist or political terrorists.Those people doing the namecalling certainly have their "rights", but that doesn't make them any less full of crap. Both sides of the fence.3. Because them thinking they have no contact with the Whitehouse doesn't mean it's true. Apparently people just are not aware of how easily e-mail addresses go around. 4. Of course I'm aware of that. I just cited Fox News telling you so, didn't I?5. Easily, yes. Information is like water these days. You've seen the news, you see people getting ripped off of their social security data in insane numbers.... and that's the HARD TO GET information. Now, imagine that with information people don't guard so closely? Yeah. If some spammy kid can get your e-mail, it's not a far leap to guess that some third-party could do the same thing.
— Inside_Passage
The email recipients wound up with those emails because a third party (i.e. not the White House) used the "Share with your Friends"! function. The White House did not send out emails to unlisted people.
— Emmi
at the best the white house [obama] let themselves be used, which makes them a fairly stupid whore !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
— ken
Considering the obama campaign used technology to win the election, you would think they are savvy enough to know the rules to play by. Considering that, thier offered excuse is fairly lame. They need to send an opt-out email to every email address they have to make it at least look, like a 3-rd party loaded the server with email addresses. BTW who is to say that they are not using the exact same email server that was collecting emails for the flag@whitehouse.gov. mailbox....making it all too easy to create and merge a couple distribution lists.
— TechZilla
That's what they are saying....obviously what you are believing. That's ok. I on the otherhand no longer accept anything this administration says or does at pure face value.
In the old days, it used to take an act of congress to get something done. Now it takes outrage and discust of the people to get things done right! It was public outrage over this issue that got the Whitehouse to tighten up security on the email system.
Pretty sad
— TechZilla
the republicans don't have alot of power right now,but when their 4 years are up,the lawsuits and arrests that will be brought against this regime will go down in history
— ken
I agree with you that our government isn't working for us as it should. In fact that's why I even bother to converse with people who are so vastly different from me in political orientation, because if we don't talk to each other then our governments will walk all over us.
But the level of paranoid talk from the right is becoming quite silly. What proof does anyone have about these "conspiracy" emails? Why would the administration want to tick off people who obviously won't read the letters? You'd have to be seriously paranoid to think that the Obama admin is somehow trying to brainwash right wingers by sending them emails. It's so silly.
I don't accept anything at face value - however as I said in my last post I see this as a petty distraction technique by the right wing that is intended to get us off topic of what's really important. Of course you have the absolute right to disagree with Obama's policies - but hopefully the conversation can be about important issues and be civil. And I do greatly appreciate that you maintain a civil tone. :)
— Emmi
ellie. either you are a very left wing nut job trying to be nice in protecting your leader,or your too stupid to see beyond the end of your nose,obama knew damm well what he was doing and who was putting e-mails through his site,someone should be going to jail for this,but like dodd and his lies it will have to wait until this regime is out of power...
— ken
hey techzilla, can you read between the lines of the comment ellie just left,ellie just told you ,you are full of shit,what your talking about isn't all that important,and to mind your manners even though she will use none.
— ken
The difference between them (Techzilla and Ellie) and you, is that they
are capable of keeping the conversation civil, and not calling people
stupid or whores. You, on the other hand, are trying to stir the pot
and cause strife by claiming she's insulting insulting him when she
clearly is doing no such thing. I'd also like to point out that you're starting to sound like Syrin with that mouth. How
about you knock it off?
— Inside_Passage
i really try,but when i read those well placed words and see what their really saying it pisses me off,much like when obama coaches his marxism, in down home,gee golly wiz mannerisms ,i know that what he is really saying is that only his opinion matters and you just need to trot along like a nice puppy, i don't do life like that.and you shoudn't let syrin,ellie,pelosi,obama or the democratic party to do it to you,wrong is wrong whether its whispered or rammed down your throat..
— ken
The fact that the government is messing up, more obviously than ever in my lifetime, is the reason many of us are talking. Just as a note, in one of my earlier posts I posted this....
5 U.S.C. § 552a, United States agencies, including the Executive Office of the President shall, “maintain no record describing how any individual exercises rights guaranteed by the First Amendment unless expressly authorized by statute or by the individual about whom the record is maintained or unless pertinent to and within the scope of an authorized law enforcement activity.”
— TechZilla
Techzilla, while I won't claim to be a laywer or even paralegal, I'm pretty good at picking out legal loopholes. The way they can get away with that is through the following legal loophole in bold print:maintain no record describing how any individual exercises rightsguaranteed by the First Amendment unless expressly authorized bystatute or by the individual about whom the record is maintained orunless pertinent to and within the scope of an authorized lawenforcement activity.The Freedom of Information Act, in that context, is consid-ered authorized law enforcement activity as it's a federalmandate. Additionally, that record is not being maintained aboutan individual (unless you can prove that they're keepinga record of the names beyond what's written), it's beingmaintained of the speech itself. You'd also have a very hard time in court arguing thatthe list of forwarded e-mail addresses constitutes a recordof how individuals expressed their freedom of speech. Afterall, the -only- thing a forwarded address indicates is thatit was received and sent on.
— Inside_Passage
all correspondece to the whitehouse cannot be destroyed. that means that all the emails sent to flag@whitehouse.gov malibox that was forwarded has all the email addresses nobody bothered to cleanup from all the forwarding. This is in addition to the content of the emails.
The freedom of Information act ensures that we the people can at some point see those emails. The law I sited says the only way they can "USE" that information is if they are investigating someone and it is part of a legal investigation but is stated as a "law enforcement activity". BTW there are others with this same oppinion.
The Whitehouse had only the legal authority to store the emails...not gleam email addresses and use them to send out unsolicited emails.
— TechZilla
Whoa, you think that Obama is worse than Bush was? I'm sorry but those are some hardcore beer goggles. Bush used domestic spying and put us in debt by far more than Clinton or Obama ever could.
— Emmi
Ellie,
Obama is still doing domestic spying and has quadrupled the national debt. And sure he did inheret a debt created by congress (all blamed on bush)...the same congress pretty much thats spending money my grandchildren are yet to create.
If the guy actually made an attempt to do what he promised in his campaign...I would be behind him 100%. But I have yet to see anything more than a song and a dance.
Btw I don't have a drug or alchohol issue and see things quite clearly.
— TechZilla
Obama is still doing domestic spying and has quadrupled the national debt
Do you have a source that proves that? It's a pretty wild statement to make with no proof to back it up.
Ha, I apologize for not making it clear, my "beer goggles" comment was strictly metaphorical. Not meant to imply anything about you. I'm drug free as well (except for overdoses of java, of course. And cupcakes) :)
— Emmi