recently ran a report about the Cars.gov website, the official "Cars for Clunkers" site that allows you to trade in your old car and get money to buy a new, fuel-efficient vehicle, has a very odd Terms of Service.

When you click on the button on the official site to submit a transaction, a warning box pops up that states the following:
So basically, by clicking on "Continue", you've just made your personal computer, in your home, a Federal computer system, which would allow the government to spy on it!

Video:

View YouTUBE video http://youtube.com/watch?v=bWs12ccbOiE

One could only imagine the different uses for such a system (MPAA/RIAA, spying on you, etc)...

Also, if you want to see this for yourself, you can't, because cars.gov has been overloading and crashing ever since the program started last week.

they probably think if you have a crappy car that you are also too poor to buy music so you steal it...

That doesn't mean they can view your hard drive. That means they monitor what goes on when you use cars.gov

What the fuck?
Is this shit for real?

Wouldn't doubt it.

Bureaucrats

If they're able to view my harrdrive from my browser they earned it.

"uses of this system and all files"


conspiracy

lulwut?
inb4 conspiricy. (bad spelling I know)

You have to be signed into it though, so just stop pirating shit when you login.

What if my hard drive is full of goatse?

Very Concerning but, I understand why they did it for the own governments protection.

How is it protecting the government?

referring to

At least the government was nice enough to tell us ahead of time they were going to invade our privacy.

Edited:

The only reason he's at risk is because he's using IE.

Oh yeah, it's definitely worded weird there. The "property of the US Government" part doesn't help though.

thank god i won't own a car for a few years and i won't have to use this piece of junk.

I saw this on glenn beck.. crazy shit.

You guys really think they can view your harddrive?

Glenn Beck was talking about this.
You have to be incredibly thick to believe that it's a scam.

well you guys are freaking idiots, good job

yet again i'm actually offended at the slow dumb-witted people that roam around the internet


"take that human race!"

This is probably just a way to see if you have stolen music.

You don't believe the moon landings happened.
You have no credibility.

so guys how is it possible for this light doesn't exist without oxygen

You don't believe there's anything wrong with underage homosexuality.
You have no credibility.

(User was banned for this post ("Homophobia." - ventilated))

At first I thought Beck had finally discovered something great, I was proud of him. Then he started ranting about the czars and how evil they are.

Edited:

The site operates as a .gov, it's clearly some kind of government site.

FUCK! I was just on that site a few days ago!

Aren't you only supposed to submit transactions as the car dealer?

lol u watch glenn beck

underage homosexuality isn't any worse than underage heterosexuality

The article is misleading. Your computer is only considered a federal computer when you are logged on to the system. Once you log out, they can't see you.

SO I CAN CLOSE CP BEFORE I LOG ON? Phew!

Kinda scary still man. I'm not gonna do it.

I loled at the octopus part

Hax.

oh wow something relevant on faux news

Interesting fact, to enter your country (which involved getting that new form thing), I had to go on to a gov website that came up with that message.

Slightly worrying seeing as I live in the UK.

If I did this on my laptop, would my main computer still be "Personal", as in, not monitored?

Oh, so homosexuality is OK as long as you're 18?

Oh, so they can only spy on me when I'm logged in? Okay that makes it all better then.

The "Cash for Clunkers" ran out of money 4 days after it started. Really goes to show how well bureaucracy is working for us.

Source?

Care to explain how that is wrong in any way?
So not only are you a bat-shit insane conspiracy theorist, you're also a bigot.
Congratulation sir, you've just won the internet.

Don't matter, you should need to go on the site seeing as they stopped this Cash for Clunker programs. It became way to costly so they shut it down.

I like how OP thinks the RIAA has the governmental power to look into your hard drive.

i like how you don't even know what the fuck's going on

That's not in cars.gov's agreement, and I read the agreement while the website was still working.

I did some fact-checking, and that agreement is from esc.gov, where dealers with screened credentials log in who have already registered. It impacts the consumer in no way whatsoever.

Fucking moron, Glenn Beck is.

"THA GAVAMANT HAS THA MALWAR SASTAMS AN DA TRACKIN COOKKEHHZ AN THA CAN TAP AN AT ANYAH TAAM THAA WAAANTT"

2:39+ I lol'd, silly fox

Fox said if you go on the site your infected..


He's infected he doesn't know what he's talking about! He's a CIA Agent OMFGA AHHH THE GOVERNMENT IS TAKIN OVER!

He was pointing out that Prismatex said some other guy had no credibility because of some other irrelevant issue.

For example, if you had said something on this thread's topic, then I came in and said you have no credibility because you drink Coke instead of Pepsi. That's pretty much what Prismatex did, so ShukaidoX did it back to him.

malware systems and tracking cookies

czar

Is he using a badge as a nipple cone? Badass.

As much as I am all for "fuck the government" stuff, their diction is pretty clear.

If this were any sort of a proactive attempt to catch criminals or spy on people, they wouldn't put up a fucking disclaimer. They're telling you that doing anything illegal while you use their network means they are obligated, whether they like it or not, to deal with your shit. They're telling you to knock off any illegal shit you're doing for five minutes so they don't have to fuck with you.

Edited:

That's like telling people that you're wiretapping them.

What the fuck is this shit? I swear, Beck gets loonier by the day. His show is literally like watching someone descend into a schizophrenic lapse.

What Beck is doing is trying to get you to believe that visiting this site will suddenly and indiscriminately turn your computer into a dark tool of the government. What he so deftly brushes over is that this only applies to car dealers participating in the program. Not mom & pop consumers who want to turn in their old car for money. Furthermore, the disclaimer that Beck shows is the disclaimer for the use of their downloadable software and the connection to their system that dealers use to hand out money for trade-ins. Yet furthermore, this only applies to the dealer's computer as long as it is logged into the system. I got this straight from the site, people. Beck even says all of this (0:51, 1:29), but the next moment, he is waving his arms and saying "You! The government is trying to control YOUR computer! Protect your baby photos from Obama's lecherous eyes!"

This Beck character is sounding like a dangerous nutjob. It's even crazier that he actively discourages viewers from validating this, and is unable to do it on the show. What a pile of misleading bullshit.

Edited:

And you people are just as bad for letting yourself be drawn in to this farce. You people have always been at war with Eastasia, and it was the conspirator spies who have tried to convince you that you were at war with Eurasia.

Cleverly played since nobody reads the Terms and Conditions.

Maybe you don't.

Wait. If our computer is a part of the government. Wouldn't that make it ok to look through their files too?

Furthermore, you're missing the point. yet furthermore, STOP SAYING FURTHERMORE

Login from a public computer, like one at the library. /facepalm

What exactly is that point, then? I'll say a word as many times as I feel necessary. You used the word more times than I did, and yet your post has no content.

A simple glance at the website reveals that this is not some insidious way for the government to control everybody's computer. It is a way to make sure that participating dealers (not consumers!) apply the system effectively and efficiently. If Beck's point conflicts with the truth, then that just speaks poorly of him.

This is bullshit.

Guess I'll have to delete my anti-American files that violate the Bureau of Morality regulations.

I love how the Government is breaking laws now.

Make a honeypot PC that's located in the middle of nowhere, fill it full of porn and pirated shit then go on that and watch FBI members swarm somewhere.

"Sir, we've found Object Alpha"

"Excellent excellent, now bring it over to my offices for a personal examination. I need not explain to you that I need completely discretion, correct?"

Quoted because no one bothers to read the thread.

Glenn Beck is a dumbshit. He is completely wrong. Remember, this is the same asshole who said Obama was a racist. The government is not going to look through your hard drive. This thing only happens to car dealers, and their computer is only a federal computer when they're logged on to the system. They'll have so many dealers using the system that it's not worth it to look through their personal shit.

What do you mean? No person in their right mind reads the terms and conditions when they sign up for something.

Cash for Clunkers is/was/will for ever be a stupid idea.

Well that's strange but I wouldn't doubt it.

fox news complaining about spying

lol

What's the point?

How exactly can they look at your hard drive and whatnot? No one has explained that yet.

I think the only way they can do it is by showing up at your house and confiscating your entire computer should they believe it to be involved in shady business.

Hmm let's see here...

GG America.

I lol'd at the fucking retarded people in this thread truly questioning whether the government can view their hard drive from a browser.

We got money from cash for clunkers.

so you are wrong

Yeah, and the House has approved $4 billion more.

It seems that this is just a hacky fix for authorization. Since no websites just going to say, "Here, take this goverment authorization. We know you're trustworthy since you have a computer.", the agreement allows the goverment to moniter you when you use the system. If you try to do something illegal, it could log you out or send someone to arrest you, since that would be attempted sabotage. The goverment wouldn't need to notify you if it wanted to steal the contents of your harddrive.

Fox News scare tactics, the Government can monitor information being sent, just like every other server. It would be very difficult if not impossible for the government to monitor the contents of your hard drive just through the web browser. If this was possible, websites would be able to steal our information all the time.

Fox News when Bush was president:

Man up, if you aren't doing anything wrong you don't have anything to worry about!


Fox news when Obama is president:

THEY'RE TRYING TO STEAL OUR COMPUTER INTERNETS ON THE SOCIALIST CAR SITE

Atleast they warn you before-hand for anybody that takes the time to read it.

Just imagine the stuff they DON'T tell us.