OBAMA DISCONTINUES BIG BROTHER EMAILS

After an uproar of concern on how the information would be used, the "snitch" email address, flag@whitehouse.gov, has been shut down by the Obama administration.

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.”

The Obama administration rolled out the address on August 4th, saying:

“There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.”

Immediately, charges were made that the administration was creating an "enemies list," led initially by Senator John Cornyn of Texas. This created a firestorm of anger from citizens concerned about how the government would use the information once obtained.

The situation became even more heated after Fox News reported that they had obtained hundreds of unsolicited emails from the White House to citizens that hadn't requested receiving the emails from the White House. Sen. Cornyn (R-Texas), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, wrote a letter to Obama raising privacy concerns about what the senator called an “Obama monitoring program.”

“I can only imagine the level of justifiable outrage had your predecessor asked Americans to forward e-mails critical of his policies to the White House,” Cornyn wrote. “So I urge you to cease this program immediately.”

In a later statement, Cornyn said: “Of course the White House is collecting names. … It is inevitable. Anyone with access to the flag@whitehouse.gov account has access to the names and email addresses that are collected in that account. … How are they purging names and e-mail addresses from this account to protect privacy?”

The White House tactic to control the message on health care reform had critics accusing the Obama administration of playing "Big Brother" and threatening the privacy of average Americans.

"No one expects that when they exercise their First Amendment rights to ask questions or complain about a proposed government program that they're going to be listed on a database in the White House," Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told FOX News Thursday, saying the White House effort raises serious privacy concerns. "You don't have to be a conspiracy theorist to see the potential for serious abuse."