Glenn Beck Goes Off the Rails Again

Glenn Beck is busy ranting that the cash for clunkers program website invites the government to hack into your personal computer. He cites a page on the cars.gov website that has the following disclaimer:

This application provides access to the DoT CARS system. When logged on to the CARS system, your computer is considered a Federal computer system and is the property of the United States Government. It is for authorized use only. Users (authorized or unauthorized) have no explicit or implicit expectation of privacy.

Any or all uses of this system and all files on this system may be intercepted, monitored, recorded, copied, audited, inspected, and disclosed to authorized CARS, DoT, and law enforcement personnel, as well as authorized officials of other agencies, both domestic and foreign. By using this system, the user consents to such interception, monitoring, recording, copying, auditing, inspection, and disclosure at the discretion CARS or the DoT personnel.

Unauthorized or improper use of this system may result in administrative disciplinary action and civil and criminal penalties.

Unauthorized attempts to defeat or circumvent security features, to use the system for other than intended purposes, to deny service to authorized users, to access, obtain, alter, damage, or destroy information, or otherwise to interfere with the system or its operation are prohibited. Evidence of such acts may be disclosed to law enforcement authorities and result in criminal prosecution under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 (Public Law 99-474) and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-294), (18 U.S.C. 1030), or other applicable criminal laws.

The language on that page can be broken down as follows:
Paragraph 1: You're accessing a government computer system, so when you're connected to the gov't system, you have to abide by government rules.
Paragraph 2: We reserve the right to check all information against law enforcement to prevent fraud (to a fault perhaps).
Paragraph 3: Penalites (well, what'd you expect if you violate 1 or 2)
Paragraph 4: If you try to circumvent existing security protocols or access the system illegally, you're subject to civil and criminal penalties.

Of all that's there, paragraph 2 is the one that would seemingly raise an eyebrow. It's overlawyered to a fault, but it's prevalent at nearly all government websites. In other words, it's the standard boilerplate used at government websites across the board. It isn't anything new, and it's not anything anyone has to worry about, unless they attempt to hack into the .gov website or computer systems.

For example, Los Alamos Natl Lab:

Any or all uses of this system and all files on this system may be intercepted, monitored, recorded, copied, audited, inspected, and disclosed to authorized site, Department of Energy, and law enforcement personnel, as well as authorized officials of other agencies, both domestic and foreign. By using this system, the user consents to such interception, monitoring, recording, copying, auditing, inspection, and disclosure at the discretion of authorized site or Department of Energy personnel.

Swap Cars.gov for that, and we're talking the same disclaimer.

Beck is an idiot who clearly hasn't done his research, and is more than willing to spew nonsensical conspiracies about the Obama Administration.

There's plenty of things to criticize about the cars for clunkers program, and I've detailed my concerns, but this isn't one of them.

UPDATE:
Sites that are peddling Beck's nonsense and claiming as Beck does that this somehow gives the government right to hack into your computer are just as off base. That includes Newsbusters' Jeff Poor and Jeff Wray.