Posted on 09/02/2009 3:38:34 AM PDT by PowerPro
NLPC has uncovered a plan by the White House New Media operation to hire a technology vendor to conduct a massive, secret effort to harvest personal information on millions of Americans from social networking websites.
The information to be captured includes comments, tag lines, emails, audio, and video. The targeted sites include Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr and others – any space where the White House “maintains a presence.”
In the course of investigating procurement by the White House New Media office, NLPC discovered a 51-page solicitation of bids that was filed on Friday, August 21, 2009. Filed as Solicitation # WHO-S-09-0003, it is posted at FedBizzOps.com. Click here to download a 51-page pdf of the solicitation.
While the solicitation specifies a 12-month contract, it allows for seven one-year extensions. It specifies no dollar cap. Other troubling issues include:
extremely broad secrecy terms preventing the vendor from disclosing to the public or the media what information is being captured and archived (page 7, “Restriction Against Disclosure”)
wholesale capturing of comments by non-White House staff on publicly accessible sites
capturing of content of any type (text, graphics, audio, or video)
capturing of comments by both Obama critics and supporters, with no restriction as to how the White House would use the information.
This is the third controversy involving the White House internet operations in less than a month. First, Obama’s New Media operation asked supporters to send information about critics of the White House health care effort to a White House email. This provoked a storm of criticism and the White House retreated. Then large number of people complained of getting email spam from the White House supporting the President’s health care position. Again the White House was forced to back down.
(Excerpt) Read more at nlpc.org ...
Freedom of speech means nothing to these thugs.
If true, then this White House is in a pant load of trouble.
Who is the National Legal and Policy Center?
Are they reputable? Reliable?
I saw this over at Doug Ross’s site...and to my knowledge, he is reputable. Here’s his link discussing this information:
http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2009/09/red-alert-white-house-plans-massive.html
From who?
The media going to run with this?
Or are we just going to be outraged and expect a lot from 2010?
NO ONE calls these clowns on anything it seems....
Thanks!
Why? They have openly broken laws and nothing was said or done. What makes this different?
I am interested in what is meant by "maintains a presence." I have not dug into the document too deeply, but there are some interesting vendor questions at the end:
2. Approximately how many sites are controlled by EOP?
Answer: The 7 networks where the EOP currently maintains a presence are: www.facebook.com/whitehouse www.twitter.com/whitehouse www.myspace.com/whitehouse www.flickr.com/whitehouse www.youtube.com/whitehouse www.vimeo.com/whitehouse www.slideshare.com/whitehouse
6. Will the tool/storage be integrated at EOP or at the vendor's site?
Answer: The government’s preference is the vendor’s site.
7. Does the EOP prefer a hosted solution, or is this system intended to run on their own internal equipment and network?
Answer: The Government requires a hosted solution.
9. The Presidential Records Act does not require the storage or archiving of non-EOP content, as such is there a specific reason as to why the content provided on EOP related websites in the form of comments is included in these archiving procedures?
Answer: The PRA includes in its definition of presidential records content "received"– by PRA components and personnel. Out of an abundance of caution, we are treating comments made by non-PRA personnel on sites on which a PRA component has a presence as presidential records, requiring them to be captured or sampled.
Are they reputable? Reliable?”
I don't know who they are but the solicitation is real at the link that they provide. “FedBizOpps.gov” is the clearing house for government solicitations.
Unless the free media picks this up and exposes it now, no one will know about it, and the American citizens won't be able to stop it.
I believe Oboma is trying to become the next Stalin, and he's trying to stop our Constitutional right to political dissent.
This is why we must make a big deal of this. Now. Call radio shows. Send it to Drudge. Comment and post about it on conservative blogs.
Get the word out now.
Thanks for this. I just posted the link to this on my Facebook page.
Did Nixon have to resign ??
Does Obama need to resign ??
Yep. Passing it on already and planting the seeds. (Anyone out there a RUSH premium member? He'd love to hear about this one.)
This one solicitor question is really important to me because they are having the vendor store the information that they gather at the vendor's site:
6. Will the tool/storage be integrated at EOP or at the vendor's site?
Answer: The government’s preference is the vendor’s site.
Does the White House have a “presence” on Free Republic?
Here is one dissenting opinion they can harvest:
Kiss my big, white, rich, Christian, male, pro-gun, pro-life, government hating, tax hating, terrorist hating, greenhouse gas emitting, freedom loving hind parts.
Can someone get this to Glenn Beck?
Their trolls are here just about every day.
If I leave out "rich" can I say "ditto?"
FYI- need to do some checking on this for accuracy- but the problem is we already know this administration would be perfectly capable of attempting actions of this nature...
I’ll be more than pleased if this turns out to be a false alarm but given what we know of these people...truly, nothing would surprise me.
“Filed as Solicitation # WHO-S-09-0003, it is posted at FedBizzOps.com. Click here to download a 51-page pdf of the solicitation.”
Probably doing it incorrectly, but I don’t see it from there, it just takes me to another site and am not giving my name or email to receive bids.
Turn off cookies and scripts and go to:
https://www.fbo.gov/index?cck=1&au=&ck=
There is a script within it that goes to
http://www.symplicity.com/
but by using noscript or similar add on, you block it.
This is summary of RFQ
Description: The contractor shall provide the necessary services to capture, store, extract to approved formats, and transfer content published by EOP on publicly-accessible web sites, along with information posted by non-EOP persons on publicly-accessible web sites where the EOP offices under PRA maintains a presence, throughout the term of the contract. The contractor shall if possible, capture, store, extract to approved formats, and transfer content published by EOP on non-public websites. The contractor shall include in the information posted by non-EOP persons on publicly-accessible web sites where the EOP maintains a presence both comments posted on pages created by EOP and messages sent to EOP accounts on those web sites. Publicly-accessible sites may include, but are not limited to social networking sites. The contractor shall provide a user-friendly way of organizing and searching captured information. The contractor shall properly transfer the captured information, as identified by EOP, to NARA in an acceptable format for both preservation in NARA’s Electronic Records Archive and presentation at the future Presidential Library. The Contractor shall provide a method to separate content posted by other EOP component offices as required.
Notice Type: Combined Synopsis/Solicitation
Posted Date: August 21, 2009
Response Date: Sep 10, 2009 4:00 pm Eastern
Archiving Policy: Automatic, 15 days after response date
Archive Date: September 25, 2009
Original Set Aside: N/A
Set Aside: N/A
Classification Code:
D — Information technology services, including telecommunications services
NAICS Code: 541 — Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services/541519 — Other Computer Related Services
“If true, then this White House is in a pant load of trouble
Why? They have openly broken laws and nothing was said or done. What makes this different? “
Alert! Obama is a communist plant who is not a legal natural born citizen, who surrounded himself with communist advisors, who was trained and planted by the Soviet Union in order to destroy the United States.
Look the other way, nothing to see here, move along.
I bet if Palin or Cheney were to mention it, it would get attention.
bttt
Just posted it on my facebook
Yes.
Oh I’m sure he is well aware of it. I posted on my facebook and twitter. I am sure we will hear this all day.
Looks like it:
Regarding salty talk aimed at the president (or other officials) vs visits from the SS
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2200093/posts
I’ve tweeted, emailed and Facebooked on this.
I’m still hoping that it’s not true but we have to be ready for the probability that this is real and get the word out pronto.
This si why I don’t subscribe to these. How does the IRS track a tax evader down from his Facebook messages? How intensely are they already watching. I set up a false account name on Facebook and got hits from several people in my email address book. They’re already harvesting data.
It’s insidious. How else was the WH able to send mass mailings to peopke who had never cntacted them. Other than FR and precious few other sites, I am doing my best to stay ‘off the grid’
bookmark
I’ll second that. I have nothing nice to say anymore it seems. Well, maybe Lock and Load..
Feel free to enhance to. I am sure there are other things a Community Organizer in Chief would not like about a garden variety American.
BTW - "rich" anymore to me means that you pay income tax.
You know, my biggest concern is this administration legalizing the illegals before 2010 in order to neutralize the conservative vote.
You know if any of us have a profile in these networks share this article. Let everyone know the Control Freak Rats at the White House are watching.
We are slowly being converted to Socialism/Communism. We the people still have the power, and need to expose this.
Well, I do pay my share even if it turns out not to be a whole lot. So I guess I'm rich. :0/
After they do this they will tax internet users. Sick.
“What is difference of this and Nixon’s break in at the Watergate ?? Did Nixon have to resign ?? Does Obama need to resign ??”
The difference?? Nixon had a hostile Congress running the investigation.
NLPC is very reputable. Our family foundation has been giving to them for years. They are much like Landmark Legal Foundation(protecting the constitution). This is very disturbing.
(snip)
“The contractor shall provide the necessary services to capture, store, extract to approved formats, and transfer content published by EOP on publicly-accessible web sites, along with information posted by non-EOP persons on publicly-accessible web sites where the EOP offices under PRA maintains a presence, throughout the term of the contract.... The contractor shall include in the information posted by non-EOP persons on publicly-accessible web sites where the EOP maintains a presence both comments posted on pages created by EOP and messages sent to EOP accounts on those web sites. Publicly-accessible sites may include, but are not limited to social networking sites. The contractor shall provide a user-friendly way of organizing and searching captured information...
...Capture of comments and publicly-visible tags posted by users on publicly-accessible websites on which an EOP component subject to the PRA maintains a presence. Vendor must be able to either:
(i) Capture all comments posted to a list of websites provided to vendor; or
(ii) Capture a sample of comments posted to a list of websites provided to vendor, according to a sampling methodology that will be provided to vendor and approved by EOP.” (end snip)
http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2009/09/red-alert-white-house-plans-massive.html
I could not get on the NLCP site this morning(hopefully it is just overloaded with traffic).Thanks for the heads up.
Thanks for insight into NLPC- I wasn’t sure. I’ve been trying since I pinged you to this, still can’t get on their site.
I have forwarded the links to some friends in D.C....we’ll see what they discover.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.