Outrage: U.S. Air Force Blocks Blogs, Censors Net
Young Americans join the military to fight for, among other rights, freedom of speech. But the U.S. Air Force is now denying those very rights to Air Force troops. The service has a new "Cyber Command" that is now actively CENSORING THE INTERNET, including the blocking of most blogs. The Air Force's censorship is more aggressive than China's or Iran's. This is just plain wrong for many reasons, including:
1. Young people who serve in the military already sacrifice their relationships and social lives, leisure and income. Now they're being needlessly denied the small pleasure of surfing the Internet without censorship.
2. We trust Air Force personnel with nuclear weapons and heavy bombers, but we can't trust them with blogs?
3. Exactly what is the Air Force brass afraid of? Are they afraid that military personnel will be exposed to bad language? Sex? What, exactly?
4. How does it affect morale for troops to know their military superiors are deciding what they can and cannot read?
5. Are recruiters telling young people thinking about joining the Air Force that they're signing up for censorship?
3:24 AM * PERMALINK * 13 comments
Comments:
You have to love the one sided media. You need to understand the USAF is blocking these sites from USAF owned PCs that are to be used for business purposes only. They should have full right to block these type of sites if it doesn't meet a government need, no different than any business doing the same thing. The USAF (at least a few bases I'm aware) also blocks other sites, such a gmail, ESPN, etc during work hours and does unblock them during lunch hour to allow airmen to spend some personal time on USAF owned PCs. Full Disclosure: I'm a prior active duty Airforce airmen, but have been separated since Nov 2001.
I was wondering why a US employer blocking access to non-work related websites was newsworthy. The fact the these PCs are one firewall closer to classified information, that the bandwidth is frequently expensive satellite links, and that blogging while at work has the possibility of getting someone killed just add to the excitement...
"Loose Lips Sink Ships"
Although the military fights for our freedoms, while in the military loss of certain freedoms is not only necessary but should be expected.
It is imperative that we keep our military's thoughts, actions, locations, etc... as secret as possible at a time of war. If troops are allowed to publicly post information that the enemy can easily access then lives could be lost unnecessarily. I'm not suggesting troops would purposefully post info to the enemy, but that doesn't mean the enemy can't glean vital information that individual soldiers did not intend to provide.
Sorry, but the military protects free speech, it doesn't practice it and shouldn't unless we want to accidentally cost some brave men and women their lives.
You have to wonder if there is selective blocking, or wholesale blocking. For instance, in the case of Armed Forces Radio, they've had no problem broadcasting Rush Limbaugh, but haven't allowed any voices from the other end of the spectrum.
Umm, should we allow CIA agents at CIA headquarters to blog on CIA computers about CIA matters??? I don't see that that is an appropriate use of government time or resources, not to say anything about safety and security issues. Mike, your quote about our US government sponsoring censorship that is worse than the Chinese is not helpful or truthful!
lot's of GIs hehe
Americans are just as controlled and receipted as other countries.
Get over it!
First off I would like to agree that there are certain aspect of a person's personal life that the military aspect takes too much interest / control in. As a veteran of the Air Force I know first hand. On the other hand this post shows that the author is vastly uninformed or leaving out important information on purpose. The Air Force only censors content visited to webpages on work computers, meaning that Airmen cannot visit those sites, whether they be blogs, sex, drugs, or any other site on Air Force work computers. The Airmen can visit those sites all the want from their personal computers at home or at the Internet areas in their personal time. So I would advise the author to include all the facts and not give your readers a one sided view.
The need to block some internet traffic is very real. Some people; Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines included are too dumb not to click on some things. Unfortunately, many of these servicepeople also post items with operational intelligence, placing themselves and their brothers and sisters in arms in harm's way. For the DoD to block such traffic from government computers makes sense. Every BX/PX/NEX/MCEX/CGEX sells computers. Internet access is even available in theater off government computers. Government computers are for work. If servicepeople want to do something else, they can buy their own machine and get their own access.
he.. he..
looks like Mike got pwned this time...
Didn't think it through did you?
Good Grief, this story or the issue of Air Force blocking blogs just made it to the Coast Guard end of the blogosphere. At our end of internet, we have not all been blocked as of yet, but rumblings inside Coast Guard Headquarters point in that direction. We have uncovered what has been labeled the “ugly underbelly” of the Coast Guard and report on issues they sooner not have discussed. Of the three main blogs, CoastGuardReport.org, and two others we take on issues that otherwise would not be discussed at the level and with the sources inside the Coast Guard we use.
As the Coast Guard tries to come to grips with its new and increased missions since 911, along with its increased funding, we have much to report on. From the failed 27 billion dollar acquisition portfolio to upgrade the Coast Guard’s aged and deteriorating fleet of ships and aircraft, to a base infrastructure that is largely made up of base hand-me-downs from the other services, they have much to do. Coast Guards 27 billion dollar acquisition portfolio is still being managed today by an Admiral with ZERO professional acquisition training, qualifications or certifications. Why the congress let alone the Commandant of the Coast Guard don’t tackle that easy fix is beyond anything anyone outside the Coast Guard can fathom.
Good Luck Bloggers!
My only problem with these blocks, is that they block almost everything. Normally, when i am searching through google trying to find information to fix a problem with microsoft access, i get blocked 1-2 times in every three links. It is impairing my job to work efficiently. My favorite block is when it says "Access Denied; The website requested has been categorized as: Military"
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