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Could the US government be monitoring your political activities?

Posted by Cynthia Kendoll on Mon, 02/27/2012
Tags: 
illegal immigration

A recent article released by FAIR suggests that the O'bama administration may be more interested in your opinions than you think.  Apparently, according to testimony by committee members, the negative reaction to DHS’s “big brother” tactics has been overwhelmingly bipartisan.

On Feb. 16, the House Subcommittee on Counter-terrorism and Intelligence held a hearing on DHS’s monitoring of social networking and the media. (See Subcommittee Website, Feb. 16, 2012) Chairman of the Subcommittee, Patrick Meehan (R-PA), said DHS’ collection of intelligence on media reports adversely reflecting the government crosses the line and pointed out the “chilling effect” such monitoring could have on freedom of speech. (Rep. Meehan Opening Statement, Feb. 16, 2012) Ranking Member Jackie Speier (D-CA) described DHS’ ability to “build files on bloggers” as “outrageous” and a “violation of the Privacy Act.” She also said, “This…should not be a political operation and capturing public reactions to major government proposals is not something [the government] should be doing.” (Bloomberg Government Transcript, Feb. 16, 2012).

 

Read more in the National News section of the OFIR website at: http://www.oregonir.org/issues/dhs-uses-social-media-monitor-backdoor-amnesty-blowback


 

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