Government Reportedly Storing Comments on Social Networking Pages!!!

The Presidential Records Act of 1978 ensures public access to government documents so that United States citizens can be aware of the actions of the nation's highest office. According to the Washington Times, the government is asserting that the same act enables the White House to have access to statements made by the public. More specifically, the Act apparently allows the government to monitor and store comments, notes, photos, and videos posted to sites that host a White House page (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Flickr, Vimeo, YouTube, and Slideshare).

Because the Act applies specifically to public comments "received by the President or the immediate staff," it's still not clear as to exactly what information, posted by whom, would be susceptible to monitoring. All of the aforementioned are third-party sites, after all. Although some folks, possibly in hopes of inspiring vitriol and paranoia, may suggest that a nefarious Obama is hiding in a dark room crawling through everyone's profiles, the monitoring of the sites is being carried out by a private contractor. Hopefully, some form of congressional oversight committee will be created and more details will emerge soon.

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