From U.S. News & World Report:

A doctors’ group and an organization that advocates for the interest of the inner-city poor have joined forced to sue the Obama administration, charging that its abortive effort to collect criticisms made by those opposed to President Obama’s plan to change the U.S. health care system infringed on their First Amendment rights.

In a complaint filed Thursday in U.S. District Court, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons and the Coalition for Urban Renewal and Education said the White House had attempted to “unlawfully” collect information on protected political speech when it asked Obamacare supporters to report any negative comments about the proposal to a U.S. government email address, flag@whitehouse.gov.

The specific effort, which was launched on August 4 as part of the White House’s “rapid response” Health Insurance Reform Reality Check, was quickly abandoned after members of Congress raised questions about it. Nevertheless, say the two groups filing suit, the information collection effort continues under another name and is part of an “unlawful pattern and practice to collect and maintain information” on the exercise of free speech, which “continues in violation of the Privacy Act and First Amendment even if the Defendants terminate a particular information-collection component due to negative publicity.”

“My hate mail started shortly after the White House issued the ‘fishy’ request,” said Kathryn Serkes, AAPS’ Director of Policy and Public Affairs. “We were quite visible and vocal before then, so it doesn’t seem like a coincidence. Who did they share their data with? With whom might they share it?”

In the suit, the groups are demanding the White House remove all information already collected, and further, be prohibited from collecting any personal data in the future.

Background reading if you are interested. Oldest post first:

Bush Vs. Obama – Wiretapping Terrorists Vs. Spying on Citizens: Major Upate

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

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

White House Spy Program Violates .Gov Domain Guidelines And Privacy Act of 1974 – Updates And Who To Contact

White House Using New Web Site To Spread Lies About ObamaCare. White House Still Collecting Data And What You Can Do About It – New Petition From ACLJ. New Site Still Violates .Gov Guidelines

Obama Could Be In Trouble: ACLJ Legal Analysis of White House Flag Program

Obama’s Legal Troubles Starting To Grow. Citizen Spy Program – Public Relations Nightmare? And How The Heck Did I Get I Get An Email From David Axelrod? Screenshot Included.

In other news and opinion:

Gadhafi’s camping trip is a bloody outrage

Hey, maybe someone should “claw back” Pay Czar’s big pay!

Honduras offers return, but not office

Great moments in union representation

Will there be a “Wellstone effect” in Kennedy remembrances?

The White House’s strategy of stonewalling the flagging operation becomes more difficult by the day. Here is yesterday’s exchange between Major Garrett and Robert Gibbs. Major Garrett was contacted by numerous people confounded as to how in the world they received an unsolicited email communication from the White House. It is unclear whether all of the complaints came from people who flagged themselves or were flagged by others using the flag@whitehouse.gov email. I love watching Robert Gibbs squirm whenever this issue is raised. It is quickly becoming one of my favorite pastimes. His reference to Organizing for America and Obama for America having nothing to do with the White House is completely unrelated to the question Major Garrett is asking. An indication of panic on the part of Gibbs?

Like many of my readers, I flagged myself – multiple times. It now appears the White House is not only collecting this data and is forced by the Presidential Records Act to keep this information, but they are also using the same information gathered by these emails to create an additional database or multiple databases which are subsequently used for list building – the process of collecting emails for marketing, advertising, or information sharing. As someone who does internet marketing on the side, there is a right way to collect peoples emails and a wrong way to do it. Collecting solicited emails – good. Collecting unsolicited emails – bad.

It is interesting to note this unintended consequence of the flag yourself campaign. White House staff, including lawyers now seem completely clueless. Unaware of the backlash created by spying on citizens, they never guessed the flag program would lead to evidence that emails are being collected and used to create additional databases for White House communications; communications that were never solicited in the first place. Lucy, you gotta lota of splainin’ to do.

Here is a partial screenshot of the email I forwarded to another account and that I received, unsolicited, from the White House. Just click on the thumbnail to see the full image.

Note the senders address (info@messages.whitehouse.gov). Hmmm, sounds like the White House to me.

I would recommend to anyone who receives an unsolicited email from the White House to save that email. Note how my email is from whitehouse.gov, and nothing to do with Organizing for America or Obama for America which, thanks to Gibbs own admission, are unrelated to the White House. Shout out to Mr. Gibbs for helping make our case for us – your assistance is greatly appreciated.

Related: Obama Could Be In Trouble: ACLJ Legal Analysis of White House Flag Program

In other news and opinion:

How to kill ObamaCare and get real reform.

Michelle Malkin’s culture of corruption a hate crime? I read it, and if telling the truth equates to a hate crime, then I agree, it’s a hate crime.

Green Czar vs. Glenn Beck; Britain vs. Michael Savage.

The Etiquette Czar’s Rules for Patriotic Protest

Democrats Having Trouble Getting Cap & Trade Passed Because of Democrats. Good news here, now if we can just kill that health care bill.

Is Palin getting ready to tweet again?

Is the White House losing urban Democrats on health care reform?

Lies, lies, and more lies. The White House seems determined to draw itself into litigation. How stupid can these people be?

White House continues spy campaign: White House Launches Health Tattle-Tale Site on another .gov website. The site is here.

I describe in a previous post how the older now defunct White House flag site violates .Gov domain guidelines as outlined here.

What is interesting is that I am unable to use Firefox’s built in capabilities to look at the White House source code to discern what email address is being used in the section “Contact Us”. I find this a bit fishy. Perhaps someone with more computer acumen than I can figure this one out. I still think it good strategy to inundate the new website’s email address by using the contact form. Millions of emails equates to letting our voices be heard.

Amazing how many lies these people will attempt to propagate in a vain attempt to spread the meme of “ObamaCare” is good for you. Melt the phone (202-501-0282) and send those emails to Lee Ellis (lee.ellis@gsa.gov), policy administrator of the GSA Federal Acquisition Service (GSA FAS) which assign .Gov domains and creates the guidelines for the use of .Gov domains. Be courteous.

Most interesting is the following statement on the main page of the new site:

Links to Facebook, Twitter, and “More Ways to Share,” point to third-party sites that are not on the White House server.

Assume for a moment the White House is not in violation of the Privacy Act of 1974, but is in violation of .gov guidelines which do not allow the use of a government second level domain to be used for political or campaign purposes. In my talks with Lee Ellis, I was informed that two actions that could be taken against whitehouse.gov website of which Macon Philips is the Chief Information Officer (macon@who.eop.gov). A request to take down the website or put a disclaimer on the site stating the page violates the .gov guidelines. Still nothing has occurred to date on the new site, and the old site is now down, whether at the request of the GSA FAS or their own volition unclear at this time.

I must admit I am disappointed in the lack of action on the part of the GSA FAS concerning the new site. The “Reality Check” site, although pointing to a non .gov location, would still be in violation of the guidelines by the very act of providing a link to a site dedicated to campaigning for ObamaCare.

Even with the closure of the old site, I believe the White House is open up to litigation as pointed out in this Fox News story:

But Napolitano said the White House probably cannot be sued because of sovereign immunity, unless someone was harmed by what the government did with the records. But that’s unlikely, he said, because the person would probably be unaware of the harm.

“That’s a silent violation of your right to privacy,” he said.

Any emails collected by the White House must be maintained via the Presidential Records Act (PRA), which requires the White House to preserve and maintain its records for permanent storage in a government database as reported here.

I still think there is a case for Privacy Act violation by the White House or First Amendment encroachments. I believe these should be pursued with the utmost passion. It looks like the American Center for Law & Justice is doing just that.

New ACLJ petition here. Check out the ACLJ Legal brief here.

Remember, people have died for our freedoms. It is imperative that nobody fear the government, for a life lived in fear is a life not worth living. Protect your rights and freedoms. Obama and his propagandists be damned. Its your life, your future, and the future of your children. The time for sitting down and taking it on the chin are over. Let the battle for the hearts and minds of America be joined.

Contact the RNC – melt the phones (202.863.8500). Ensure they intend on using national television to expose Obama’s overt violation of the privacy of U.S. citizens.

Such a blatant violation of the First Amendment could very take down the Obama presidency. Talk about Waterloo.

Is there a Woodward and Bernstein team ready to take this on? Pulitzer Prize anyone?

In other news and opinion:

White House: You’re not un-American, but you are still corporate shills so just pipe down

Be careful: DOT inspector general challenges O’s stimulus spending.

Overflow crowd at Maryland town hall.

Specter faces angry crowd at town hall meeting

Internet Snitch Brigade disabled, but…Updated. Michelle is starting to cover the new site. To date, there has been no major player covering the violation of .gov guidelines (rules for thee but not for me?).

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.

.

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.

Don’t forget to check out my discussion with Lewis K. Uhler and how 5 Republican Senators may hold the future of healthcare in their hands. A must read.

__________
Original Post

Update: Contact Lee Ellis at 202-501-0282 and send an email to lee.ellis@gsa.gov. Provide the website URL, which is http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Facts-Are-Stubborn-Things and lodge a complaint against the .gov website. If he gets enough calls, I am sure someone will get the message this is getting pretty serious. I just called Senator Cornyn’s office and was very well received. The person I spoke with ensured she could reach the link for the guidelines and where the relevant sections were. I could hear a lot of typing in the background as I was talking to her. Also read White House Spy Program Violates .Gov Domain Guidelines And Privacy Act of 1974 – Updates And Who To Contact.

Here is a copy of the email I sent to Lee Ellis. I setup my email program to get a read and delivery receipt. I just received the delivery receipt:

It has come to my attention that the site http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Facts-Are-Stubborn-Things/ violates the guidelines for use in .gov websites as outlined at http://www.dotgov.gov/program_guidelines.aspx.

In particular, the wording “No political or Campaign Information: The Gov domain is for the operation of government, not the political, political party, or campaign environment”.

As you can see from the above referenced .gov site, a request is made to provide personal information of individuals to the email address flag@whitehouse.gov who are expressing their freedom of speech in
disagreeing with the President’s health care reform. This is blatantly political and the guidelines provide for domain suspension or for the site to experience operational issues or termination based on the severity of
the issue under two levels of incidents: Critical and Administrative.

I am sure you would agree this is a direct violation and will take the appropriate steps to ensure the guidelines are enforced as they would be for any .gov website.

Thank you for your time and patience.

Best Regards

Here is the link to the guidelines:

Here is the pertinent information:

This overview of Gov Internet domain registration requirements is meant to further explain and clarify some sections of the Federal Policy about registering second-level Gov Internet domains. The Federal Policy on Gov Internet domains focuses on purpose and jurisdiction.

The Gov Internet domain facilitates collaboration among government-to-government, government-to-business, and government-to-citizen entities. The domain hosts only official, government sites at the federal-, state- and local-government levels, including federally recognized Indian tribes, known as Native Sovereign Nations (NSNs). The Gov Internet domain provides the official and trusted Internet presence for these government entities.

Every Gov Internet domain name application is carefully examined to ensure domain names requested will not create misunderstandings about the purpose of domains and their Web site content. GSA arbitrates domain name issues and reserves the right to deny domain name requests that do not adequately meet requirements.

The Gov Internet domain operates in accordance with the Interagency Management Council for Telecommunications. The policies and guidelines construct have been developed through communications with Federal, State and Local government groups to provide the most effective management of the government web presence.

For further assistance with domain names and eligibility requirements, please refer to http://www.dotgov.gov/help_qualify.aspx or call the Help Desk toll free at (877) 734-4688 or locally at (703) 306-6740.

1. Guidelines for All Second Level Gov Internet Domains

The following applies to all Gov Internet domains:

a. No non-Government Advertisements: A Gov Internet domain may not be used to advertise for private individuals, firms, or corporations, or imply in any manner that the government endorses or favors any specific commercial product, commodity, or service.

b. No Political or Campaign Information: The Gov domain is for the operation of government, not the political, political party, or campaign environment. No campaigning can be done using Gov Internet domains. The Gov Internet domain websites may not be directly linked to or refer to websites created or operated by a campaign or any campaign entity or committee. No political sites or party names or acronyms can be used. Separate webites and e-mail on other top-level domains (TLDs), such as .org, will have to be used for political activity.

Continuing:

Domain Suspension: Organizations that operate Web sites that are not in compliance with the Gov Internet conditions of use may have their domain name suspended or experience operational issues or terminated based on the severity of the issue. There are two levels of incidents:

1. Critical – Content restriction on the Gov Internet Domain does not allow criminal activities or obscene images, inappropriate sexually oriented material or material being accessed through a Gov domain URL could result in an expedient suspension. A process for resolution with escalation procedures is in place with the RRA. The RRA will contact the registratin points of contacts and the Authorizing Authority (AA) advising them of an imminent domain suspension. The AA is the CIO for Federal level domains. The Authorizing Authority (AA), for State and Local governments and Native Soverign Nations is the highest elected official that authorizes the domain to operate and contain information reference to their government responsibilities.

2. Administrative – Domains that have content with advertising materials, political or campaign information, substantial incorrect information, inappropriate web links (i.e. to sites that violate content policy), and incorrect redirects are not in compliance or not consistent with original intent or approved purpose. The domain POCs will be contacted by the RRA to get issues resolved. The expectation is these administrative compliance issues are handled in a timely manner and suspension is reserved as a last resort.

The actual suspension of a domain without concurrence of a registrant requires the internal GSA approval at the Senior Executive level. Generally, for GSA initiated suspesions, the suspension will become effective 3 hours to 24 hours after notification of the points of contacts (POCs), depending on the severity of the issue. The notification of the contacts is the time at which one of the URL points of contact is contacted or the time that the voice and email messages are sent to all contacts, which ever is first. This provides an opportunity for the registrant to remediate the issue to avoid suspension. The RRA will review the site to see if the policy violation has been remediated prior to the suspension.

Now the question: who to contact? The FCC and CIO?

While nothing may come of the matter – these are only guidelines and the language is not very stringent as sites “may have their domain name suspended or experience operational issues or terminated based on the severity of the issue”. However, it sure would draw attention to the fact Obama does not believe he is required to play by the same rules as us lowly citizens.

Related:

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?

Bush Vs. Obama – Wiretapping Terrorists Vs. Spying on Citizens.

In other news and opinion:

“I hope Glenn Beck kills himself”

Thug life: Enter the unions

ACORN Watch: Louisiana investigates

Cornyn to Obama: Shut down Snitch Central