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August 17, 2009 12:11 PM

After Spam Flap, White House Changes E-Mail Policy

Posted by Stephanie Condon
(CBS/White House)
It appears the Obama administration has been spamming some unsuspecting citizens about health care reform, but the White House is reportedly laying the blame for the unwanted e-mails on advocacy groups.

Fox News queried the White House about its e-mail delivery system after the network reportedly received hundreds of e-mails from people claiming they were sent unsolicited e-mails directly from the White House.

The complaints largely referred to a long e-mail sent last week from White House adviser David Axelrod that promoted the president's health care reform agenda and sought to dispel "myths" about health care reform. Axelrod urged recipients of his e-mail to pass it on to others, but complaints to Fox News reportedly referred specifically to e-mails sent directly from the White House.

In a statement given Sunday night, the White House reportedly said it will change its e-mail sign-up procedures and indicated third party advocacy groups may have signed up individuals for the e-mail distribution list without their permission.

"We are implementing measures to make subscribing to e-mails clearer, including preventing advocacy organizations from signing people up to our lists without their permission when they deliver petition signatures and other messages on individual’s behalf," White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said in a statement, Politico reports.

In other words, according to Politico, an advocacy group may have sent a unique comment to WhiteHouse.gov from each person who signed an online petition, along with each person's e-mail address, thereby inputing the address into the White House's e-mail list.

"The White House e-mail list is made up of e-mail addresses obtained solely through the White House Web site," Shapiro's statement said. "If an individual received the e-mail because someone else or a group signed them up or forwarded the email, we hope they were not too inconvenienced. Further, we suggest that they unsubscribe from the list by clicking the link at the bottom of the e-mail or tell whomever forwarded it to them not to forward such information anymore."

CBSNews.com Special Report: Health Care
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by alphaa10 August 18, 2009 12:22 AM EDT
THE OPINION MACHINE

CBS/Condon reports, "It appears the Obama administration has been spamming some unsuspecting citizens about health care reform, but the White House is reportedly laying the blame for the unwanted e-mails on advocacy groups."
---

As many in the web industry understand, there is software available for anybody with sufficient cash which will do the following things, more or less automatically and quickly--

(1) solicit the attention of a target email address owner

(2) "authorize" a limited statement or endorsement from the owner by a simple check mark beside a statement appropriate to the address owner's viewpoint

(3) offer to send the statement to the address owner's congressmen

(4) offer to send the statement to the White House

(5) casually disclose the statement will be submitted to the address owner's local newspaper for its editorial comment page

As most will recognize immediately, a careless reading of such emailed solicitations can result in a complex series of steps the address owner did not anticipate.

Both Republican and Democratically-affiliated groups use this software, and both are aware their software so automates the process of issuing a comment, the comment is not as "original" as one written directly by the address owner.

Is this an ethical problem? Some in the industry are willing to consider the possibility automated rendering of opinion can misrepresent actual opinion by expressing it as a "best match" for the address owner's actual words.

Others object, saying the address owner never loses the power to decide what happens next in the opinion submission process. That fact he chooses a prepared statement that matches his own opinion actually helps many come to terms with what they do and do not actually believe.

It remains the responsibility of each person who responds to opinion solicitations to proceed cautiously, and read every part of the instructions for the process carefully for hidden and default permissions (implied by clicking or checking consent points).

The process of automating public opinion sampling and reporting has developed so rapidly in the last decade, we will see many more stories like this one.
Reply to this comment
by John_Merritt August 17, 2009 5:59 PM EDT
"The complaints largely referred to a long e-mail sent last week from White House adviser David Axelrod that promoted the president's health care reform agenda and sought to dispel "myths" about health care reform. Axelrod urged recipients of his e-mail to pass it on to others, but complaints to Fox News reportedly referred specifically to e-mails sent directly from the White House."

So Mr. Axelrod, please dispel the 'myth' that Health insurance companies are responsible for 30-40 cents on the dollar that go into their operations. Please dispel the 'myth' that I can buy the same coronary stent in one hospital or one state from another and pay 25-30% more than my neighbor. Please dispel the 'myth' that all procedures that are performed are warranted and necessary. Please dispel the 'myth' that approximately 35-40% of all lab and xray reports are within normal limits (WNL). Please dispel the 'myth' that people with insurance will be billed more, with more procedures because they have better insurance than those that do not. Please dispel the 'myth' that our quality of care and morbity and mortality rates are worse than most industrialized nations. Please dispel the 'myth' that if you sign this bill without it being scrutinized in content and totality that we will be better off financially as a people and a nation. Please dispel the 'myth' that there are not an average of 6 lobbyists per representative on the hill right now trying to strengthen their companies position at the expense of the consumer.

Mr. Axelrod, et.al you guys are paid to protect the people, not subject them to incredulous negative financial impact because you guys are too sloppy or too lazy to give us a bill the protects the rights of the consumer, not hold them hostage to the whims of others.
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by texasman77 August 17, 2009 5:01 PM EDT
It is strange to me that we allow any administration free reign over us. My trust level for any politician is next to nothing and every time they open their mouths it drops more.

Lets face it, Congress went out in August to explain to the Public about 5 or is it 6 or is it 8 different Health Care Reform Bills in progress? In my book, it is impossible to get anything right or anything wrong in talking about this legislation.

I want to see ONE Bill.. and then lets debate it. Till then we don't have anything. Obama is only spouting rhetoric.
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by MrBrown6824 August 17, 2009 4:53 PM EDT
This so typical of the current administration. If this particular tactic ran long enough to produce the desired result, they would boast of it to their ever-inflating credit. Now that the act is demonstrated as underhanded and criminal they are quick to hand off the blame, even to their own supporters if necessary. I'm glad I didn't support them.
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by woeisme1 August 17, 2009 4:42 PM EDT
Well I see all of the usual mental midget misfit republican extremists are on this thread.

If you7 got email from the WH it was because of one or two reasons:

1- You once wrote the Wh, OR


2- the republican idiots who hired the group that organized their petion drive submitted those petitions with electronic signatures to the whitehouse.gov addy knowing full well that that would place your name on the automatic mailing list and hence many rpeublicans would recieve these unsolicited emails, get angry (that's not hard to do) and provide another avenue for the constant thrashing they have been giving Obama since even before he was elected.

That's what happened though. The republicans orchestrated this email thingy and now cry foul play.

America. DO YOU SEE HOW EVIL THE MINDS OF THE REPUBLICAN FASCIST, RACIST, EXTREMISTS WORK?

I know you do.
Reply to this comment
by schotzy81 August 17, 2009 4:29 PM EDT
Hilarious. Obama's Soviet-style information collection on political opposition collided with big government's utter ineptitude to handle anything responsibly and the result? Obama's healthcare propagandists accidentally grabbed Obama's email blacklist and sent them all his b.s. Oops. So much for Obama's promise that his political truth police weren't tracking people's personal information.
Reply to this comment
by TheMasses2016 August 17, 2009 3:51 PM EDT
The current corrupt administration will do anything to mislead the American people.
Reply to this comment
by Policy_Before_Politics August 17, 2009 4:25 PM EDT
Who do you find more trustworthy:

A) An insurance company that makes billions of dollars canceling coverage of premium-paying Americans as soon as they get sick and need medical care. Companies who then pay tens of millions of dollars to lobbying firms that crank out BS by the trainload and distribute it through their beards like FreedomWorks.com.

B) Your President, who didn't duck the toughest problem facing the country (like the last one did), and is fighting to reform a system that threatens to drown the country in debt, while special interests get wealthy.
by alphaa10 August 17, 2009 8:20 PM EDT
ALMOST MISLED, BUT SAVED BY FAUX NEWS

TheMasses2016 said, "The current corrupt administration will do anything to mislead the American people."
---

"The current corrupt administration"? As opposed to the last one?

Actually, Obama will not do anything to mislead the American people. While Bush could not think of anything he regretted doing, Obama has admitted his mistakes freely.

That is not a smooth campaign of self-congratulation, certainly not a campaign of deception-- especially with the GOP partisan chorus waiting to scream for a fleeting moment of traction.

In fact, campaign advisers told Obama early he had almost too much on his plate to deal with, and so soon in his administration.

Very few historians can recall a president who entered office under such an array of technical and political challenges as Obama.

That said, as Virgil commented, "Audaces fortuna iuvat"

Which translates roughly to, "You whining, deceitful, hysterically partisan GOP bozos need to get a life."
by lutefisk763 August 17, 2009 3:26 PM EDT
Of course New for Dumb F-X would be complaining.
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by cinci_citizen August 17, 2009 3:08 PM EDT
Funny, didn't the previous administration READ our personal emails and tap into telephone conversations without our permission? And this was acceptable?? But God forbid they receive an unsolicited email - well, that crosses the line!! What kind of double talk is that???
No wonder people are voting rebublicans out of office in record numbers. If we are lucky, soon there won?t be any left.
Reply to this comment
by TheMasses2016 August 17, 2009 3:14 PM EDT
Better to not post and be thought a fool than to post and confirm it.
Bush only broke into "suspected terrorists" e-mails. Now get off of momma's computer.
by Policy_Before_Politics August 17, 2009 4:11 PM EDT
by TheMasses2016 August 17, 2009 3:14 PM EDT
Better to not post and be thought a fool than to post and confirm it.
Bush only broke into "suspected terrorists" e-mails. Now get off of momma's computer.

___________________________________________

That's so funny, your Mama's compter. Ha. Ha. Ha. OK, class is back in session. Kids get in your seats. Masses, resume your place with your nose in the corner.

There is a reason why the last administration fell over itself to grant immunity to the telecoms. The government eaves dropped on everyone, phones, emails, the works. It's not a secret anymore. In fact John Yoo, the lawyer who told Bush to go ahead in violation of the 4th amendment, is still saying it was A-OK.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/07/yoo-defends-spying/

You are apparently the last one to find out.
by STBY21 August 17, 2009 3:06 PM EDT
As far as who the least informed are, pro or con, but based on what we're seeing braodcast on Fox; those who are screaming about death panels, and pulling the plug on grandma, and government take overs are the citizens who are acting like puppets. What is the evidence? They're all repeating the same false information that has it's roots in Insurance lobby talking points.by BaselessCritique August 17, 2009 2:17 PM EDT

What is the evidence. They couldn't be using Barry O's own words against him could they? Like in 2003 when he said he wants a single payer health plan to kick out the private companies in 15-20 years. That wouldn't be government takeover would it? Or back in April when he himself questions whether it was a good idea to give his own "grandma or anyone else's grandma" a hip replacement after being diagnosed with cancer. He goes on to say that the chronically ill and the elderly account for 80% of healthcare costs and that we need to make tough decisions morally regarding that. But I am sure he doesn't mean pull the plug on grandma. He just means stop feeding her through feeding tubes and let "nature" take its course.
Reply to this comment
by Policy_Before_Politics August 17, 2009 3:55 PM EDT
by STBY21 August 17, 2009 3:06 PM EDT

What is the evidence.
____________________________

My evidence that the anti-health insurance reform gets its talking points from Insurance lobbies comes from two sources:

(1) Anit-reformers are all repeating the same false claims. They didn't all arrive at the same false conclusion independently. Therefore there is a common source for all this misinformation.

(2) Your own post sites the same misreadings as others have put forward. Did you personally dig through the archives of Obama's 2003 speech? No? Did you at least read the entire transcript to provide context? No? Are you just repeating the same talking points that originated inside an Insurance lobby firm without performing any due diligence on your own? I'd bet a hundred dollars the answer is most definitely, YES.
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