On Sep 16, 11:51*am, Gunner Asch wrote:
White House spying on social networking web siteshttp://www.examiner.com/x-2684-Law-Enforcement-Examiner~y2009m9d16-Wh...

September 16, 9:50

The Obama White House "new media" operation contracted a technology
vendor to conduct a massive, secret effort to harvest personal
information on millions of Americans from Internet social networking
sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, according to a report by
Fox News Channel.

The Obama minions are interested in information such as comments, tag
lines, emails, audio, and video that mention -- or related to --
President Barack Obama .

The sites targeted for surveillance include Facebook, Twitter, MySpace,
YouTube, Flickr and others –- any space where the White House “maintains
a presence.”

According to the National Legal and Policy Center, this is the third
controversy involving the White House internet operations in less than a
month.

During the heated health care debate, President Obama asked Americans to
send information about critics of the White House health care effort to
a special White House email address. The ensuing firestorm of caused the
White House to terminate the email address ) and the
web site created for that purpose.

Subsequently, Fox News White House correspondent Major Garrett uncovered
the Obama Administration sending email spam from the White House
supporting the President’s health care position. *Again the White House
was forced to back down.

Now the same people at the White House are at it again with an ambitious
plan to harvest huge amounts of information from the web and
specifically social networking sites, according to NLPC.

And the news media silence on this latest politically-charged action is
deafening.

Last week, The Examiner reported on Obama's intention to appoint a
so-called Cyber Czar. During a White House announcement televised on Fox
News, CNN and other news networks, Obama said he will appoint a cyber
security coordinator -- or Cyber Czar -- for the critical infrastructure
that all Americans depend on.

"We will ensure that these networks are secure, trustworthy and
resilient," he said. "We will deter, prevent, detect and defend against
attacks, and recover quickly from any disruptions or damage."

The cyber security office will orchestrate and integrate all cyber
security policies for the government, the president said. It will work
closely with the Office of Management and Budget to ensure agency
budgets reflect those priorities, and, in the event of major cyber
incident or attack, it will coordinate government response.

But Critics point out that any high-tech program that entails government
intrusion should be carefully monitored by not only the US Congress but
also private sector experts in cyber security and computer-based
espionage.

"People went ballistic when they discovered the Bush White House
authorized the interception of telephone and other electronic
communications by intelligence and law enforcement agencies, and rightly
so. Yet, I haven't heard a peep from these same people who claim they
are concerned with 'privacy rights,'" said security expert and former
NYPD cop Mike Fitzgerald.

"This may come back to haunt us as the first step down a truly slippery
slope," said former the Police detective and director of security.

"The technology involved is so complicated that it may take computer
scientists to discover whether the government is protecting Americans on
the worldwide web or spying on them. And what are businesses that rely
on the Internet supposed to do if the President closes down the
Internet?" asks Sam McCarthy a former police commander now a computer
security expert..

The cyber infrastructure is not limited to the federal government. The
office will work with state and local governments and international
partners to combat cyber attacks, and also will work with the private
sector to ensure an organized and unified response to future cyber
incidents, Obama stated.

Experts agree that America's economic prosperity in the 21st century
will depend on cyber security, which also affects public safety and
national security. However, most experts contacted by NewswithViews.com
said that cyber security should be the responsibility of the private
sector not government officials.

"We count on computer networks to deliver our oil and gas, our power and
our water," said McCarthy.

"Computers help run public transportation networks from the skies to
subways, he noted, and hackers have launched attacks on electrical
grids," he added.

Part of the Obama program is a national campaign to promote cyber
security awareness and digital literacy. The effort also will be part of
the president's initiative to build a digital work force for the 21st
century. However, according to security experts, Obama is seeking powers
never before given to a President even during the height of the Cold
War.

"Once Americans realize what's happening it may be too late thanks to
Obama's supporters in the news media. Do a search and you won't see
stories about this power grab in the major media," warns Baker.
Political Correctness is a doctrine fostered by a delusional,
illogical liberal minority, and rabidly promoted by an
unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the
proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.

What does this have to do with metalworking? Lets keep to the topic.