Angst abides over Web, politics

When the White House launched an initiative to prod backers to forward e-mails from detractors, Marc Rotenberg was vexed.

A frequent critic of President George W. Bush’s domestic intelligence gathering, Rotenberg saw what he considered another assault on Americans’ civil liberties. This time, the move was to gather names of people spreading what the White House called potential misinformation about health care reform.

“We thought it was a mistake for the White House to collect the names of people who were critical of the program,’’ said Rotenberg, director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a Washington-based nonprofit watchdog group.

Fears over that program linger, as evidenced by the abiding furor over Del. Steve Landes’ comparison of White House tactics to those of Soviets and Nazis. While the White House says it has shut down a controversial e-mail tip line, experts say the privacy concerns it raised remain.

Landes cited the White House e-mail initiative as an example of why some Republican voters are “afraid because they’re afraid their neighbors are going to tell on them.”

White House new media Director Macon Phillips posted a blog Aug. 4 urging viewers to forward e-mails and Web sites containing “fishy” information about health care reform to a White House e-mail address, .

Rumblings quickly spread over talk radio and through other conservative corners about the White House collecting dissenters’ names. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, called the move an “unprecedented” request to report the free political speech of citizens to the president.

The Obama administration denied those claims, and wound up shutting down the e-mail. Although the original post remains online, The News Virginian received an undeliverable message after attempting to e-mail a test to the White House address.

Under the updated Web site, people who log on can suggest health care topics or ideas, but no personal information will be shared, and those submitting names are asked to get the person’s permission, according to the White House.

Rotenberg said his group has given the Obama administration a mixed report card on privacy during its first year.

While the administration has done a good job on medical privacy legislation, there is concern about civil liberties and consumer protection, Rotenberg said.

Barack Obama similarly ruffled some privacy groups during the presidential campaign when he actively used Facebook to drum up support, building a stable of more than 2 million supporters. Privacy frequently has been a sticky issue for Facebook, although security has been tightened on the social networking site in recent months.

Obama’s success with Facebook and similar sites was an indicator of just how much technology has transformed politics, and experts agree no candidate has mastered the trend better than the president. Obama’s use of technology helped him win 66 percent of the youth vote, said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics.

“Obama used the Internet not just to raise money, but to organize volunteers and supporters,’’ Sabato said.

Now other candidates are following suit. Like the contenders at the top of the state ballot, both Landes and his Democratic opponent, Greg Marrow, are on Facebook.

Obama now is transitioning his deft use of technology in the campaign to the White House. “He is trying to apply the lessons learned through the campaign to governance,” Sabato said.

As for whether the public approves, Sabato said, “Let people judge for themselves.”

Landes already has, and, he said, so too have many of his constituents: “People are concerned about their privacy and their identity.’’