Planned lifting of ban on 'cookies' called '1984'-style spying effort
Posted: August 17, 2009
1:10 am Eastern
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
WASHINGTON – The Barack Obama administration has announced plans to
lift a government ban on tracking visitors to government websites, and
potentially, collect their personal data through the use of "cookies" –
an effort some suspect may already be in place on White House sites.
A ban on such tracking by the federal government on Internet
users has been in place since 2000, however, the White House Office of
Management and Budget now wants to lift the ban citing a "compelling
need."
In fact, according to the Electronic Privacy and Information
Center, federal agencies have already negotiated agreements and
contracts with social networking sites like Google, YouTube,
SlideShare, Facebook,
AddThis, Blist, Flickr and VIMEO to collect information on visitors for
federal web sites. All of these private companies are known to have
agreements with federal agencies, but the public has never seen them.
In public comments submitted to the Office of Management and
Budget, EPIC notes it has obtained documents that show federal agencies
have negotiated these contracts with the private sector in violation of
"existing statutory privacy rights." Those agencies include: Department
of Defense, Department of the Treasury, and the National Security
Agency.
There are suspicions the White House is already involved.
When White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was recently asked
by Fox News reporter Major Garrett why Americans who had not signed up
to receive any e-mails from the White House, were now receiving e-mails
from White House adviser David Axelrod promoting President Obama's health care plan, Gibbs refused to answer the question.
"The Obama administration's favorite book seems to be '1984' by George Orwell," said Brad O’Leary, publisher of The O'Leary Report monthly newsletter and author of "Shut Up, America: The End of Free Speech." "Only they don't see '1984' as a warning, but rather a blueprint for spying on every American who visits a government website – something that has been banned for nearly a decade."
According to Obama "technology czar" Vivek Kundra, the
"compelling need" driving this major policy reversal is the
administration's desire to create "more open" government and to
"enhance citizen participation in government."
O'Leary finds serious fault with Kundra's rationale.
"According to the new technology czar, there is a 'compelling
need' to do this," said O'Leary. "The only compelling need I can think
of is for a failing Obama administration to compile an enemy list of
gun owners, pro-lifers, tea-party participants, those opposed to
illegal immigration, and anyone opposed to the Obama-Pelosi agenda of
government control over Americans' lives."
Spy cookies can do more than merely recall the user names and
passwords of visitors who return to their favorite web sites. They can
also track, retrieve and report selected movements someone makes on the
Internet. Through the use of cookies, the federal government could have
the power to create an individual profile of anyone who visits a
government website – right down to a person's recent online purchases,
or even race, gender and income level.
"No matter what the Obama administration says, a 'cookie' is a
spy device," said O’Leary. "No matter how inoffensive the
administration says their spy devices will be, once you open the door
to the federal government spying on every American who visits a
government website, it can't be closed – it can only be expanded."
According to O'Leary, if the Obama administration is successful
in lifting this ban on federal privacy invasion, the lives of many
Americans could become open books for bureaucrats.
"What if a harmless trip to the State Department's travel
website or the White House's health care site, the Census Bureau's web
site results in the Obama administration's discovery that you are
someone who recently visited Cabela's, Smith and Wesson, or a tea party
or pro-life web site?" asked O'Leary. "Is this all mundane information
that political animals in government don't care about? Of course not. You might sooner expect a visit from Obama's IRS or Homeland Security
than a pat on the back for 'participating' in government."
O'Leary says that it is time for Congress to step in and pass
legislation to protect the privacy rights of Americans who could fall
victim to White House spy cookies.
"Because of the lack of transparency from the Obama White
House, we are filing FOIA requests to determine exactly how these
agencies are using spy cookies," said O'Leary.
If you are a member of the media and would like to interview Brad O'Leary, email press@wnd.com