Just had a long talk with Lee Ellis, policy administrator of the GSA Federal Acquisition Service which assign .Gov domains and creates the guidelines for the use of .Gov domains.

Mr. Ellis was very cordial, mentioning he was up until 9:00 pm last night after being inundated with emails. I would like to extend many thanks to my readers who emailed me after contacting Mr. Ellis. Your words of support were encouraging. Don’t letup and keep sending those emails, but please be very cordial as Mr. Ellis is a very likable gentleman. Mr. Ellis will be the person who will re-write the guidelines if necessary.

Mr. Ellis informed me the legal office of the GSA Federal Acquisition Services (FAS) has been contacted. The White House site will not be taken down, which should come as no surprise due to its importance in providing vital information to the public. However, the use of the whitehouse.gov blog is in violation of the guidelines.

The White House may be asked to either remove the offending material of put up a disclaimer which states the site in question violates .gov second level domain guidelines by allowing for campaign content – in this case the campaign to pass health care legislation. Mr. Ellis is not a lawyer and I have not yet received a reply email from him, which I requested during our interview. However keep your eyes on the site dotgov.gov website, which is the GSA FAS official website for any announcements. Again, keep up the pressure.

To understand the structure involved here, the federal Chief Information Officer (CIO) Vivek Kundra has authority over all other CIOs. I could not find any contact information for Vivek Kundra, so if anyone can dig this up and place it in the comments, I will add it to the post.

I did a little digging and found the current White House CIO is Macon Philips. I don’t have a phone number, so if anyone out there does, again please provide it in the comment section. It took a lot of research, but I was finally able to find an email for Macon Philips – macon@who.eop.gov. Still looking for a phone number.

Macon Philips, the man behind whitehouse.gov and the website calling for the turning in of citizens is also known as the White House Director Of New Media:

The White House request that members of the public report anyone who is spreading “disinformation” about the proposed national health care makeover could lead to a White House database of political opponents that will be both secret and permanent, according to Republican lawyers on the Senate Judiciary Committee who are examining the plan’s possible implementation.

On Monday, White House director of new media Macon Phillips posted a note on the White House web site complaining of “disinformation about health insurance reform.” “These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation,” Phillips wrote. “Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.”

In a letter to Obama Tuesday, Republican Sen. John Cornyn wrote that, given Phillips’ request, “it is inevitable that the names, email address, IP addresses, and private speech of U.S. citizens will be reported to the White House.” Cornyn warned the president that “these actions taken by your White House staff raise the specter of a data collection program.”

“I can only imagine the level of justifiable outrage had your predecessor asked Americans to forward emails critical of his policies to the White House,” Cornyn continued. “I urge you to cease this program immediately.”

In the article above Byron York goes on to state the Privacy Act of 1974 does not apply to the White House. However, others disagree, including Renowned attorney David T. Hardy:

The Administration has asked that anyone who gets an email or “see[s] something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy” report it to flag@whitehouse.gov.

Evan Coyne Malone suggests the request may be illegal under the Privacy Act and the Dept of Justice’s statement about its purpose.

As a recovering bureaucrat, I can point to a much, much, bigger illegality under that Act.

5 US Code §552a(e)(7) commands that any Federal agency

“(7) 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;”

Persons posting to the web or sending emails are exercising First Amendment rights. I can’t see how gathering this information is expressly authorized by statute, nor within the scope of an LE activity. It doesn’t get much clearer than that.

{Plus, 552a(e) generally requires that agencies collecting information about individuals into a records system, upon establishment or change to that system, publish in the Federal Register a detailed description of that records system, maintain appropriate security, etc.)

I’d say there are glaring Privacy Act violations here. And the penalties, per §552a(i) include fines of up to $5,000, not only for gathering forbidden data, but for disclosing it or maintaining an undisclosed system.

Use this post for an plan to disseminate this information to as wide an audience as possible. Action is what is needed right now. Inundate Macon Phillip’s email with your concerns about the improper use of the the whitehouse.gov website. Send this information to your Senators and Representatives.

Continue to send Mr. Ellis emails and just ask they be forwarded to the legal team so he can go about doing his job. Mr. Ellis is not responsible for any of this fiasco so treat him with respect as he treated me. I now understand more about CIOs, the GSA, and domain name guidelines than I ever thought I would. I applaud Mr. Ellis in his assistance in educating me on the structure of his organization and understand his reticence in providing details he is not authorized to provide.

Related:

Obama White House Violating Governement Website Rules – Domain Could Be Suspended

ACLJ Petition On White House Spy Program – Also Senator John Cornyn Joins Jay Sekulow Tomorrow

Is Obama Or Executive Branch In Violation Of The Privacy Act of 1974?

In other news and opinion:

Who’s behind the Internet Snitch Brigade.

SEIU and the “persuasion of power;” Update: St. Louis thuggery on tape

Mel “Shamnesty” Martinez steps down

RAW VIDEO!!…..TEA PARTY PROTESTERS ATTACKED– 1 Black Conservative Seriously Hurt in St. Louis!… 6 Arrested Including SEIU Members. This is what happens with the President of the United States calls on his supporters to “punch back twice as hard”. Still think Obama is good for this country? One commenter states:

An important line was crossed last night. Violence in American politics isn’t anything new. Union violence isn’t anything new. Union violence in American politics isn’t anything new. What IS new is violence against ordinary protesting citizens carried out by union stormtroopers EXPLICITLY CALLED OUT BY and CONDONED by the governing political party and the President of the United States.

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More here.

I say as far as Obama and the liberals in Congress go, as soon as we can – get rid of the bums. You could replace them with self-flushing toilets and get the same amount of utilitarian use.

Questions for your health care town hall: Sec. 421. This is what happens when you read the bill.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 7th, 2009 at 9:45 am and is filed under General Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.