White House Call for Informants-- Part 2

If you read "White House Call for Informants" (Aug. 4) on this blog then you will want to read this.

August 5, 2009

Cornyn worried White House collecting personal data

@ 1:30 pm by Eric Zimmermann

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) is worried that the White House will use a new media outreach program to collect the personal data of its political opponents.

Yesterday, the White House asked supporters to forward "fishy" claims or rumors about the President's healthcare plan to a White House email address as a way to respond to "disinformation."

Cornyn says this practice would let the White House collect personal information about people who oppose the President.

"By requesting citizens send 'fishy' emails to the White House, it is inevitable that the names, email, addresses, IP addresses and private speech of U.S. citizens will be reported to the White House," Cornyn wrote in a letter to Obama. "You should not be surprised that these actions taken by your White House staff raise the specter of a data collection program."

Cornyn asked Obama to cease the program immediately, or at the very least explain what the White House would do with the information it collects.

"I am not aware of any precedent for a President asking American citizens to report their fellow citizens to the White House for pure speech that is deemed 'fishy' or otherwise inimical to the White House's political interests," Cornyn said.

Read the full letter here.

Be sure to read the letter Senator Cornyn wrote. Maybe Obama can understand something so simple.