Obama Web-Tracking Proposal Raises Privacy Concerns

The Obama administration is proposing to scale back a long-standing ban on tracking how people use government Internet sites with "cookies" and other technologies, raising alarms among privacy groups.

A two-week public comment period ended Monday on a proposal by the White House Office of Management and Budget to end a ban on federal Internet sites using such technologies and replace it with other privacy safeguards. The current prohibition, in place since 2000, can be waived if an agency head cites a "compelling need."

Supporters of a change say social networking and similar services, which often take advantage of the tracking technologies, have transformed how people communicate over the Internet, and Obama's aides say those services can make government more transparent and increase public involvement.

Some privacy groups say the proposal amounts to a "massive" and unexplained shift in government policy. In a statement Monday, American Civil Liberties Union spokesman Michael Macleod-Ball said the move could "allow the mass collection of personal information of every user of a federal government website."

Even groups that support updating the policy question whether the administration is seeking changes at the request of private companies, such as online search giant Google, as the industry's economic clout and influence in Washington have grown rapidly.

Two prominent technology policy advocacy groups, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and Electronic Frontier Foundation, cited the terms of a Feb. 19 contract with Google, in which a unnamed federal agency explicitly carved out an exemption from the ban so that the agency could use Google's YouTube video player.

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Dr. Strangelove
Bomb-Loving Edukation Czar
Direktor of Flashing Lights, Shiny Things, Bobbles, and Cinematography
Ministry of Agitprop
"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room."

Dr., I'm surprised it has taken this long. After all, suspicion breeds confidence.

The government needs to know where we've been. If we've been to conservative (spit, spit) websites and say a porn site. That could be interesting and valuable information to use for blackmail behavior modification.

Personally I always spend a lot of time on the Huffington Post as prophylaxis. And it's just so funny. You see the finest tin-foil hats there. Some are so good that you'd think that they were hair.

Theo, you spend time huffing glue to prevent what?! Yes, the new Tin Foil Hats(TM) are amazing with regards to their look and feel in addition to the better reception. However, they won't do a thing to protect you from the imminent Supernova!

AHhhhhhhh! Comrades, man your Mars explorers, it's time to head to the Red Planet, the SUPERNOVA is COMINGGGGG!!!!!!

I'm so glad I spend my days at the Daily KOS, or I wouldn't even know about THE SUPERNOVA!!!!!

Oh, by the way, can I get milk with that cookie?

Dr., I also spend time on the D-Kos. From the mouth of Mark M. to my ear. Did you know that five hours at the D-Kos is <i>nearly</i> as good as a tune-up at Jiffi-Lobo? Of course the two work perfectly together, like gin and tonic.

Once I went onto the D-Kos when I'd been out of the country and hadn't had a tuneup for a while and my eyes popped out. "WTF?" I shouted. "This is freaking nuts! And the noise! The whining! The sense of entitlement! The self-importance!"

But I knew that I was questioning received opinion, the received opinion du jour, du heure, and therefore went as fast as possible to my local Jiffi-Lobo and when I recovered use of my bowels and motor functions I learned to love the D-Kos again.

Red Rooster wrote:Oh, by the way, can I get milk with that cookie?

So it's the same with the entitlement proles as it is with the chickens as it is with the mice...

"If you give a mouse a cookie, he's going to ask for a glass of milk. When you give him the milk, he'll probably ask you for a straw..."

Theo, I think a new slogan is in order:

Jiffi-Lobo(TM) or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Daily Kos.™

Ummm.. can I gets me ah straw wid dat?

And hold the chocolate chips, I'm allergic.

And I hope you didn't use wheat flour!

Oh, and make that 2% milk, I'm like soooo, on a diet.

How about white chocolate chips?

What about peanuts and strawberries?

Are you sure you don't want lactose-free soy milk?

That will be 6.95 OPMs

Thanks, and have a nice day!

You forgot the fries!

I succinctly ask for for french fries with that, or were you not reading AGAIN!!!

Oh My Gawd, I can not believe the service we get around here, UNBELIVIABLE!!!

That's it, I'm going to another country where I can wear a bone in my nose and dance around like an ape in peace!

Gooood RidDDDens!

LOL......In the near future that same sentiment might be written in bodily fluids at oxymoronic government run health centers.
Except day and month will be substituted for minutes.

Well, what else are the proles supposed to do with that overflowing bedpan?