Is Big Brother snooping on Cash for Clunkers site?

By Robert Farley
Published on Monday, August 3rd, 2009 at 6:40 p.m.

Related rulings:

If you log into the government's Cash for Clunkers Web site (cars.gov) from your home computer, the government can "seize all of your personal and private" information, and track your computer activity.    

Kimberly Guilfoyle, Friday, July 31st, 2009.

Ruling: False | Details

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Fox News anchor Kimberly Guilfoyle suggested people who visit the Cash for Clunkers Web site would give the government access to their home computer.

On Glenn Beck's Fox News program on July 31, 2009, Fox anchor Kimberly Guilfoyle suggested that clicking on the government's Cash for Clunkers Web page (cars.gov) would give the government complete access to your home computer.

The site did contain language that suggested the government could get into the user's computer files. But it was only on the part of the site accessed by dealers completing Cash for Clunkers transactions, not the general public.

On Aug. 3, the Transportation Department took the language off the site, and we think they deserve some of the blame for the confusion here.

But we ruled Guilfoyle's warnings about Big Brother worming its way into the home computers of an unsuspecting public False.