White House Website’s Response to Axelrod Viral Email Spam: Email Addresses Obtained from Forwarded Emails and “Outsiders”
White House Admits it Obtained Email Addresses from Forwarded Emails and “Outsiders”
White House Website “Fishy” Emails, Snitch on Friends and Family, Still Up and Running
Obama, White House Once again, Fail Transparency Test: Won’t Reveal Spam List Used by David Axelrod
“It has come to our attention that some people may have been subscribed to our email lists without their knowledge –- likely as a result of efforts by outside groups of all political stripes -– and we regret any inconvenience caused by receiving an unexpected message.”
White House Website, WhiteHouse.gov’s Monolithic Response to Inquiries of Email Hanky Panky
Apparently the White House paid attention to FOX News’ Major Garrett’s attempt to get White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs to find out why thousands of people were receiving White House spam such as the White House/David Axelrod viral email.
The White House responded to FOX News in a statement and posted a small statement on its website, WhiteHouse.gov..
The White House website, WhiteHouse.gov, had this to say:
White House Email Updates
Email updates from the White House have played a central role in our effort to push back on misinformation and get the facts out about health insurance reform. These updates will continue to be an important source of information about the President, his priorities and opportunities for public participation.
It has come to our attention that some people may have been subscribed to our email lists without their knowledge –- likely as a result of efforts by outside groups of all political stripes -– and we regret any inconvenience caused by receiving an unexpected message. We’re certainly not interested in anyone receiving emails from the White House who don’t want them. That’s one reason why we have never — and will never — add names from a commercial or political list to the White House list.
At the bottom of every message is a link to unsubscribe from emails that anyone can use to avoid this in the future. We have also implemented measures on WhiteHouse.gov to boost the security of the mailing list and we will carefully evaluate signups already received to work toward preventing this problem in the future.
However, it’s clear that a lot of Americans appreciate getting updates from the White House and that number continues to grow. Despite reports by some bloggers and others in the media that have invoked a variety of sinister conspiracy theories, more people signed up for updates last week than during the entire month of July. If you haven’t joined already, you can easily sign up here.
The White House website states:
“Email updates from the White House have played a central role in our effort to push back on misinformation and get the facts out about health insurance reform.”
These types of email “updates” are a form of the White House lobbying the public, paid for by tax payers, and are illegal.
THE MONOLITH SPEAKS:
“It has come to our attention that some people may have been subscribed to our email lists without their knowledge –- likely as a result of efforts by outside groups of all political stripes -– and we regret any inconvenience caused by receiving an unexpected message.”
“Outside groups of all political stripes” infers that one such “group” could be the DNC. For those who are unaware, Obama’s “grassroots” organization, Organizing for America, or OFA, and its 13 million members, was taken over by the DNC after the election. It’s a sure bet that those 13 million people have been receiving emails from WhiteHouse.gov., which includes the Axelrod viral email. If OFA members had signed up at WhiteHouse.gov to get emails, then it’s okay. If they haven’t, and received the email, then mostly likely their address was obtained from the OFA list, which is a list supplied by a political organization.
Which makes this next statement from WhiteHouse.gov., “fishy”:
“We’re certainly not interested in anyone receiving emails from the White House who don’t want them. That’s one reason why we have never — and will never — add names from a commercial or political list to the White House list.”
Of course, we’re not, cause we say so! Don’t you trust us?
Remember the President’s promise of “transparency” in the government. Check out the following video, of FOX News reporter Major Garrett asking Obama Press Secretary about the White House/Axelrod viral email, those who received them without signing up, and “lists”:
The White House responded to FOX News in a written statement. Here’s an excerpt:
“The White House e-mail list is made up of e-mail addresses obtained solely through the White House Web site. The White House doesn’t purchase, upload or merge from any other list, again, all e-mails come from the White House Web site as we have no interest in e-mailing anyone who does not want to receive an e-mail,” the statement said. “If an individual received the e-mail because someone else or a group signed them up or forwarded the e-mail, we hope they were not too inconvenienced.”
First up:
“the email list is made up of email addresses solely obtained through the White House web site”
If this is true, then how were “outside groups”, accessing the White House website, able to supply other people’s email addresses when, if you visit the website, you, and only you, are asked your permission to receive an email from the White House?
“If an individual received the e-mail because someone else or a group signed them up or forwarded the e-mail, we hope they were not too inconvenienced.”
The White House admitted to FOX News that, on its website, it circumvented their own privacy policy regarding email addresses by allowing “someone” else or a “group” to “sign up” unsuspecting email recipients without the email owner’s permission. The White House also admitted it obtained email addresses from emails that were “forwarded”.
Here’s an excerpt from WhiteHouse.gov regarding their “Privacy Policy” and email recipients:
“We collect Personal Information from eligible individuals who affirmatively request to receive e-mail or other services from us. We collect this Personal Information in order to provide these eligible individuals with timely information via e-mail regarding events, resources and issues.”
This info is a tab bit different than the curt excuse stated on the WhiteHouse.gov blog that “that some people may have been subscribed to our email lists without their knowledge –- likely as a result of efforts by outside groups of all political stripes”. The White House didn’t state what those “efforts” were, efforts such as forwarded emails, which clearly violate the White House website’s own privacy rule of getting permission first from recipients before spamming their inboxes.
Here’s what we believe also occurred regarding the White House political spam emails.
Contrary to what the White House claims on its website, it did, indeed, add the estimated 13 million OFA member’s email addresses, or OFA email list, to the WhiteHouse.gov mailing list-a clear cut case of the White House using a political group to supply email addresses. To top it off, the White House then used the OFA email lists to lobby, or spam, Americans on healthcare reform. The White House, using a government website, WhiteHouse.gov, to lobby or spam on its position on any policy is illegal.
Since the White House won’t allow anyone to view it’s database, then there’s no way to ascertain whether they’re telling the truth about not using lists provided by organizations such as the DNC/OFA.
What the White House won’t tell: the number of email addresses in its database and here’s the reason we believe why:
-The White House website claims all email addresses were obtained from “its website”. It wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to ascertain whether the numbers were padded from “lists”. Lists which the White House denies it used. Therefore, don’t expect, in the near or distant future, the White House to pony up the numbers of email addresses on file. In the interim, promises of “transparency” continue to whither on the government vine.
What we do know is the White House government website led people into believing that the website was following stringent private policy rules, the first rule, that the government had to have permission from a recipient before the government would add that email address to its database. It was only after FOX News made an inquiry that the White House admitted that some email addresses were obtained from “other sources” such as “forwarded emails”.
Even more ludicrous, the White House’s explanation as to how people’s addresses were added without their permission. According to the White House, we’re supposed to believe that thousands, maybe millions, of people’s email addresses were somehow added to the WhiteHouse.gov database without their permission by “outsiders” forwarding emails or somehow “signing” people up without their knowledge on the White House website. The White failed to explain just how this occurred.
Here’s the email address privacy info from the White House website:
“We collect Personal Information from eligible individuals who affirmatively request to receive e-mail or other services from us. We collect this Personal Information in order to provide these eligible individuals with timely information via e-mail regarding events, resources and issues.”
Just who are the “eligible individuals” whom the White House can “collect” personal info such as email addresses?
We assumed those who are “eligible” are those who signed up at the White House website, supplied their email address, which then gave the White House permission to send them emails.
Now we discover there were other “eligible” people or “groups” whom the White House collected personal info from, personal info such as other people’s email addresses. Email addresses which were then used without the recipient’s permission.
What we’ll never discover is the number of email addresses in the White House website database or where they originated. The reason why: the White House would have to admit it used “lists” which contained email addresses. Lists which were obtained from organizations such as the DNC.
Speaking of “forwarded” emails:
On the WhiteHouse.gov’s fishin for “fishy” emails, the New York Times’ Bernie Becker had this to report:
“The White House has apparently shut down the e-mail address it was using to track what it called “fishy†information about its efforts to overhaul the health care system.
Emails sent to flag@whitehouse.gov now bounce back, with the reply reading, “The email address you just sent a message to is no longer in service. We are now accepting your feedback about health insurance reform via: http://www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck.â€
Bernie’s headline was disingenuous: White House Cans Its ‘Fishy’ E-Mail Box. The White House is still fishing for “fishy” emails and merely changed the email reply address.
Becker went on to give some background info on the “fishy” emails story then regurgitated a blanket statement from the White House:
“The White House maintained that it was not collecting the names of those criticizing its reform push.”
Here’s a mind twister for Bernie:
When the White House states “we’re not collecting names”, then quantifies the statement with, “of those criticizing reform push”, what does this infer? That it is collecting names? Names other than those who are critical of Obama’s push to reform healthcare? Give us break here, Bernie, call up the White House, ask for some clarification.
The level of investigative reporting in Bernie’s article was a hoot. As a reporter for the Times, you’d think Bernie could have:
a) contacted Macon Phillips, director of new media at the White House, by phone, or email, or
b) asked questions via an email to the new address listed in Bernie’s article, whitehouse.gov/realitycheck.
Instead, Bernie let his laptop email server do the work and never delved into whether the White House’s behavior, of asking the public to “snitch” on friends and family by way of forwarding their emails to the White House was unethical, or, whether the White House was adding those names to a “list”.
Meanwhile, the White House blog post, Facts Are Stubborn Things, is still up and running and still asking the public to snitch on their friends and neighbors.
Last, but not least, this excerpt from the White House website:
“Despite reports by some bloggers and others in the media that have invoked a variety of sinister conspiracy theories, more people signed up for updates last week than during the entire month of July.”
The White House just cannot help itself, once again referring to “sinister conspiracy theories”. We’ve seen this time and again from the White House. In fact, it’s becoming their “greatest hit” when attempting to “spin” or obfuscate the matter at hand. In this case, one of promised privacy relating to email addresses by the government, the White House was not only caught spamming the public with emails but also using the emails to lobby the public on policy, which is illegal. After the White House got caught sending out emails to recipients without their permission, it denied it used “lists” but claimed “outsiders” were the culprits. That’s right… those “sinister outsiders” were responsible.
Obama campaigned on the promise of government “transparency”. When he’s asked to make do on this particular promise, in this case, he’s failed to deliver. Instead of allowing an outside investigation, the public is asked to believe that “outsiders” were responsible without providing proof, or, how the “outsiders” were able to circumvent the White House website’s “safeguards”. Failure to deliver on his transparency promise further erodes public trust.
This issue relates to Obama’s healthcare reform, which, ironically, were the subject of the emails, and public trust. At this juncture, Obama has made specific promises about what his planned healthcare reform will entail. The public has the right to know, when considering Obama’s healthcare reform and the promises he’s made, that his own website was caught breaking its own privacy policy, allowing “others” to circumvent what was supposedly strict guidelines, signing people up to receive emails without their knowledge. The public also has the right to know that the President is using tax payer funds to lobby the public on healthcare reform via emails sent from his website, WhiteHouse.gov., which is illegal.
By LBG
Image - Monolith
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