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DASSK meets President Obama
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By: Sabo Hilliard

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DASSK meets President Obama - Video

A new Obama administration privacy policy released Friday explains how the government will gather the user data of online visitors to WhiteHouse.gov, mobile apps and social media sites, and it clarifies that online comments, whether tirades or tributes, are in the open domain.

"Information you choose to share with the White House (directly and via third party sites) may be treated as public information," the new policy says.

The Obama administration also promises not to sell the data of online visitors. But it cannot make the same assurances for users who go to third-party White House sites on Facebook, Twitter or Google Plus.

There will be no significant changes in actual practices under the new policy. But legal jargon and bureaucratic language has been stripped out, making it easier for readers to now understand that the White House stores the date, time and duration of online visits; the originating Internet Protocol address; how much data users transmit from WhiteHouse.gov to their computers; and more. The administration also tracks whether emails from the White House are opened, forwarded or printed.

The updates were needed because "Our old privacy policy was just that - old," blogged Obama's digital director Nathaniel Lubin.

After coming to office in a campaign lauded for its online savvy, President Obama's White House has quickly adapted to online engagement since taking office in 2008, embracing using the Internet in all of its manifestations. The first administration with an Office of Digital Strategy, Obama's online strategy now includes a We the People petitions platform, live online chats and more than a dozen social media sites including Google Plus, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, Vine, MySpace and seven different Facebook pages including La Casa Blanca and Education to Innovate.

Visitors who link to those social media sites are advised: "Your activity on those sites is governed by the third-party website's security and privacy policies," which frequently allow those companies to sell users' data. In addition, the White House archives Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus content to comply with the Presidential Records Act.

The policy says Obama will keep some information -- automatically generated email data, Mobile App use data and some cookie data -- until the end of the current administration. The White House is also explicit about what it doesn't do, including collecting geolocation information from mobile-app users or sharing information for commercial purposes.

The policy is being released at a time when the administration is facing unprecedented criticism over disclosures from former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden that expose sweeping U.S. government surveillance programs. The policy aims to address at least some of those concerns.thama

White House spokesman Matt Lehrich said they also do not give third parties, including the political organization Obama for America or the U.S. National Security Agency, access to their email database or other systems.

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Obama administration releases updated online privacy policy

Eight million people have signed up for health care through new insurance exchanges and the proportion of younger applicants has increased, President Barack Obama said Thursday. The enrollments exceeded expectations and offered new hope to Democrats who are defending the law ahead of the midterm elections.

An impromptu appearance in the White House briefing room offered the president an opportunity to trumpet the new figures, which beat initial projections by 1 million. With an eye toward November, Obama castigated Republicans for continuing to seek out every opportunity to thwart the Affordable Care Act.

"This thing is working," Obama said of his signature domestic achievement.

Touting modest progress on another front, Obama said 35 percent of enrollees are under 35 years old, suggesting that in the final weeks of enrollment, the administration managed to sign up higher numbers of younger, healthier people who are critical to the law's viability.

The most coveted age group comprises those between 18 and 34 years old. White House officials said that for the 36 states where the federal government is taking the lead, 28 percent are in that age group a step in the right direction from March, when the administration said just 25 percent were 18 to 34.

In a sharp rebuke to his political opponents, Obama called out states that have refused to embrace an expansion of Medicaid under "Obamacare," arguing that their opposition was rooted in nothing more than sheer ideology and political spite.

"That's wrong. It should stop," he said. "Those folks should be able to get health insurance like everybody else."

Although the first year's open enrollment season for the exchanges closed on March 31, the administration is still tallying the number of total enrollees. States managing their own exchanges have been slower to report data, and some Americans who started applications before the deadline were given extra time to complete their enrollment.

The demographic figures also give Democrats an opportunity to blunt the pessimism of Republicans, some of whom have accused the White House of "cooking the books" by announcing large overall enrollment numbers that tell only part of the story.

"They still can't bring themselves to admit that the Affordable Care Act is working," Obama said. "The longer we see the law benefiting millions of people, the more we see accusations that the law is hurting people being completely debunked."

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Obama: 8 Million Signed up for Health Care

President Obama's 2015 budget won't be enacted. But if it were, it would raise $1.4 trillion more revenue and spend $446 billion more than current policies, according to the CBO.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Of course, the budget wheels for next year are already in motion in Congress, making the president's budget, in effect, a dead letter. It is, however, his wish list for taxes and spending.

The Congressional Budget Office on Thursday said Obama's budget would reduce annual deficits by about $1 trillion more than CBO projects over the next 10 years.

It would do so by raising about $1.4 trillion more in revenue, while also raising noninterest spending by $446 billion, the CBO noted in its analysis.

The net effect: The country's accumulated debt, currently about 74% of the size of the economy, would grow in dollar terms but still remain at 74% of GDP by 2024.

Here are some of Obama's proposals with the biggest effects on the federal budget:

Limit tax breaks for high income households: The biggest revenue raiser is Obama's proposal to limit the value of itemized deductions, as well as certain tax exclusions, to 28% of the amount claimed.

Related: Obama's budget: Help for workers, taxes for the rich

The plan, estimated to raise $498 billion over a decade, would hit mostly individuals who make more than $200,000 and married couples who bring in more than $250,000.

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Obama would cut deficits by another $1 trillion

Did Kathleen Sebelius Have To Go? President Obama Taps His Budget Director To Run HHS
Fox News Sunday http://www.foxnews.com/fns/index.html Fox News Sunday: Wallace Watch http://fns.blogs.foxnews.com/ Fox News http://www.foxnews.com/ Fox News ...

By: yazchat

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Did Kathleen Sebelius Have To Go? President Obama Taps His Budget Director To Run HHS - Video