Monday, August 17, 2009

What Happens To The "Fishy" People Now? UPDATED

Via Memeorandum:

Well there you go. I no more get Certified Fishy than the White House figures out that asking people to rat out their neighbors might not be good idea. From Politico:

Following a furor over how the data would be used, the White House has shut down an electronic tip box — flag@whitehouse.gov — that was set up to receive information on “fishy” claims about President Barack Obama’s health plan.

E-mails to that address now bounce back with the message: “The e-mail address you just sent a message to is no longer in service. We are now accepting your feedback about health insurance reform via http://www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck.”

At the time the “fishy” program was instituted, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs insisted that the White House was merely trying to dispel misinformation circulating about ObamaCare and that the White House would not be keeping any names that were gathered through the program.

In other words, the White House played it off say, “move along, nothing to see here.” Like so much that comes out of the White House, the public didn’t buy it.

The question remains, whether the program is active or not, what will the Administration do with the names it has collected?


UPDATE:


From Prof. Jacobson at Legal Insurrection:


At the "reality check" web page, people are encouraged to report "myths":



But once landing at the contact form, you are cautioned: "Please refrain from submitting any individual's personal information, including their email address, without their permission."
So the White House still is asking people to report information to it, and if someone just happened to include her neighbor's name and e-mail address, well that would just be an unintended consequence.
So is the White House still running its fishy flag operation? Depends on what the meaning of "flag" is.


I can't recall ever seeing such a disconnect between a WH occupant's words and deeds as much as we see with Obama. I find it very troubling, frankly. It's as if he goes out of his way to give you reasons to not trust him. Hmm. I suppose he just can't help himself, somehow. Serious question: Do you find him to be a genuinely troubling man, or is it just politics generating such feelings for some?
So, it looks like the Internet Snitch Brigade has closed up shop — and you can no longer flag yourself at flag@whitehouse.gov.

But the health care czar’s office (background here) and Obama Chicago crony Valerie Jarrett’s staff (background here) are hard at work pumping out O-care propaganda — and still collecting e-mail addresses — at the government-funded website “Reality Check.”

The White House spammers haven’t been thrown under the bus. They’re just taking a potty break.

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