White House responds to Major Garrett's questions about unsolicited emails

"The White House email list is made up of email addresses obtained solely through the White House website. The White House doesn't purchase, upload or merge from any other list, again, all emails come from the White House website as we have no interest in emailing anyone who does not want to receive an email. If an individual received the email because someone else or a group signed them up or forwarded the email, we hope they were not too inconvenienced. Further, we suggest that they unsubscribe from the list by clicking the link at the bottom of the email or tell whomever forwarded it to them not to forward such information anymore. We are implementing measures to make subscribing to emails clearer, including preventing advocacy organizations from signing people up to our lists without their permission when they deliver petition signatures and other messages on individual’s behalf."

- Nick Shapiro, White House spokesman for New Media

1. Does the WH spam any communication for any purpose. If not, does it follow a specific policy - either internal or external (meaning statute) - that guides adherence to the no spam policy?

Answered in the quote: We only email addresses received through whitehouse.gov. Our operating guidance is the privacy policy published on the website.

2. How does the WH enforce or monitor adherence to its no spam policy?

As the quote said, We are implementing measures to make subscribing to emails clearer, including preventing advocacy organizations from signing people up to our lists without their permission when they deliver petition signatures and other messages on individual’s behalf.

3. Does the White House buy any e-mail lists for any communication purposes?

Again answered in the quote, no.

4. Does the White House have any contractual or informal relationship with any Internet Service Provide to distribute White House communications via pop-up or similar types of web ads in which the WH communication is itself the pop-up content?

Absolutely Not

4. Does or will the WH going forward actively discourage outside groups from signing people up for WH communication without their permission?

Answered in the quote

5. Will the WH disable its 3rd-party e-mail device so that, in the future, 3rd parties will not be allowed to sign up others for WH communication without their permission?

Answered in the quote

6. Under what provision of law is or internal WH policy is the WH prohibited from reviewing private e-mails already on the WH list from being forensically checked to determine how it became a part of the WH e-mail list in the first place?

We are not prevented from reviewing our own systems - just providing that to outside groups per our White House privacy policy, published online at whitehouse.gov on January 20, 2009.