Restricted Web Access to The Guardian is Armywide, Officials Say

[Hissyspit]

Source: Monterey Herald

Restricted web access to The Guardian is Armywide, officials say

By PHILLIP MOLNAR
Herald Staff Writer
Posted: 06/27/2013 03:12:16 PM PDT
Updated: 06/27/2013 06:00:12 PM

The Army admitted Thursday to not only restricting access to The Guardian news website at the Presidio of Monterey, as reported in Thursday's Herald, but Armywide.

Presidio employees said the site had been blocked since The Guardian broke several stories on data collection by the National Security Agency.

Gordon Van Vleet, an Arizona-based spokesman for the Army Network Enterprise Technology Command, or NETCOM, said in an email the Army is filtering "some access to press coverage and online content about the NSA leaks."

He wrote it is routine for the Department of Defense to take preventative "network hygiene" measures to mitigate unauthorized disclosures of classified information.

Read more: http://www.montereyherald.com/local/ci_23554739/restricted-web-access-guardian-is-army-wide-officials

[Crowman1979]

1. Well if the government hates it, then I gotta have it!

[L0oniX]

4. "unauthorized disclosures of classified information" from The Guardian ...geee

so our news media is the only authorized info source?

[movonne]

11. but, but , can they have access to Rush???

[Iliyah]

39. And India?

Many died. Where is the eff of compassion?

[L0oniX]

43. ??? Did you post in the wrong thread?

[L0oniX]

2. Must be some truth telling going on over there. We can't be having that in our military.

Hey ...is that slime ball Rush still getting air time on military radio?

[Art_from_Ark]

10. The last time I checked (about 2 months ago), Slimeball Rush

was still getting air time on military radio (Eagle 810, Tokyo)

[Ash_F]

3. "Guys China is aweful and undemocrtic"

As they proceed to censor the news.

"argle bargle" they added

[leveymg]

5. Dumbing down the officer corps' access to information. That's a recipe for success.

[Jack Rabbit]

6. How stupid are these people

Sure, censor it at work. The employees can read it when they go home at night.

I beginning to think that the Bushies never left power. Why the fuck is this program still in place? And if this is a solution to the problem of informed citizens (as if that were a problem), then it is so idiotic as to be worthy of the Frat Boy himself.

Informed citizens are only a problem to authoritarian "leaders."

[wtmusic]

19. No fucking kidding.

Listening to Feinstein and even Obama go on and on about Snowden without even acknowledging surveillance abuses is sickening.

When do the grownups arrive?

[bemildred]

40. Very very stupid. In fact they can be thrown in jail if they don't act stupid.

I.e. don't continue to lie to us as they are instructed according to the daily government line.

[giftedgirl77]

7. It's been that way for

well over 2 weeks. It happens fairly regularly but in this situation it is because the documents on the site are still considered classified & therefore can't take the chance of having them downloaded onto our unclassified networks. That ladies & gentlemen is called spillage and causes the systems effected to be pulled of the network, wiped, & reclassified.

Not to mention we don't know if there are any viruses attached to them that could further compromise the systems.

[Kurovski]

9. Sounds official and professional. (nt)

[L0oniX]

12. Joseph Goebbels would be proud.

[Iliyah]

20. Now I guess you know that Rush Limbaugh

is on the military airwaves alongwith other "Conservatives" talk shows. Liberals, a no no. Tell me otherwise.

[L0oniX]

44. See post #4 ...and get some coffee soon. You're not making much sense.

[giftedgirl77]

13. That's the way it is

I only found out about it because I tried to click the link to the article but have enough sense not to get anywhere near the classified docs. Unfortunately there are many in the military that don't have any type of clearances don't get the repeated training on spillage as often as they should.

It's not a restriction thing but a security issue.I just thought some professional insight might be helpful.

[leveymg]

17. Sounds like security issues become restriction things. A lot in that institution.

How does the Army expect to think itself out of the mess it's in if personnel are averse to reading unauthorized sites that might contain "spilled" classified information? What's next to declared off-limits: The Washington Post?

[giftedgirl77]

18. If they contain the classified

material then yes. The docs in question can't be downloaded onto our unsecure networks because they are still considered classified & in doing so causes the systems that were used to download the info to now be contaminated. Once contaminated they have to be pulled & wiped & all sorts of crap. If 1000s of Soldiers are downloading these items, then all of those systems have to be pulled.

The military blocks all kinds of crap at one point last year they blocked ESPN for a while because of something stupid, there is many sites blocked at any given time.

Not to mention these are gov computers so technically they can block whatever they want since technically we aren't supposed to use them for personal stuff anyways.

[leveymg]

21. I understand the reason being given, but it strikes one as unnecessary, rigid, and restrictive. In

other words, military.

Once something is in the public domain, it should simply be treated as declassified. But, that would spoil all the nice straight lines and boxes that have been created.

"There's the right way, the wrong way, and the Army Way" - looks like that still applies.

[giftedgirl77]

27. It sucks but such as life at times

there is never an easy way to go about things in the military. I stopped trying to figure out most of th bs a long time ago.

I would be much happier if they would block Faux News on the TVs. The docs think my blood pressure is terrible & I'm a bit crazy because it spikes when I'm stuck listening to that crap in their waiting rooms.

[bemildred]

41. Thank you for your service.

[RILib]

46. why is PBS never on the tvs in waiting rooms

or videos of dolphins or something? It's always idiot blathering morons or Faux.

[giftedgirl77]

47. I don't know but it's

annoying as hell.

[Kurovski]

8. Do they still allow Plush Lintball's braying to be heard on their bases?

Is there anything surprising about anything anymore?

[Bonhomme Richard]

14. Childish. n/t

[alittlelark]

15. Of Course !!! We can't have them knowing what they're defending !!

Cuz they might THINK ABOUT IT..........

[Iliyah]

16. Rand Paul has the hook up!

smiles

[jeff47]

22. To copy my answer from another thread, they actually have a point.

Leaking isn't declassification.

So if someone with a clearance pulls up a Guardian story that contains the leaked memos, that person will now be having a very, very bad day. Because they just put classified information on an unclassified computer. Now, that person with a clearance can read a story discussing the documents without causing a problem. But the documents themselves on an unclassified computer are a big no-no.

In addition to the shit they will have to personally endure, all the computer and network hardware between the classified person and the Internet has to be scrubbed.

Blocking the Guardian probably saves the taxpayers a pile of cash, since the Guardian folks love to put the actual classified documents in their stories without any warning.

If the Guardian doesn't want that, they should put the actual documents behind a "Click here to see the documents" link. That way, everyone who wants to read them can, and everyone who can't read them won't be entering an expensive shitstorm. This is what happened with Manning's leaks - the actual documents were behind links, so people with clearances could read the stories without hitting the documents.

OTOH, that would really interfere with all the "Look how Orwellian they are!!" charges.

[davidpdx]

24. The funny thing is people are going to claim the "Orwellian" element

which is a complete falsehood as at the same time they are also pointing out that the website is accessible off base. Now if the US Government banned the site anywhere in the country that would be completely different.

[jeff47]

26. Being accessible off-base doesn't fix the problem.

If the person with a clearance downloads the documents on their home computer, they're still in deep trouble.

Doesn't matter where they find the classified document, they still have to treat it as classified. If they found a document laying on the floor of a supermarket while they were on vacation in Canada, they still have to treat it as classified.

[davidpdx]

28. The government really can't stop them from having access to the website off base

I'm not defending or supporting their access off-base, but stating that it's not something they can easily control. My main point is that on base (or in a Defense Department Building) an employer has the right to block a site. That's what people are pissing and moaning about. Instead of the government, use a bank and whether employees have access to porn sites (which could have viruses).

[jeff47]

30. Not really, but the costs of doing it are way too large.

If the person with a clearance reads the documents at home, it is unlikely that the security people at work will find out about it.

But that person is supposed to report it to the people at work. And failing to report it is a monumental, colossal, gigantic, there-are-not-big-enough-adjectives no-no.

So the person might get away with it. Or their next polygraph may end with handcuffs.

[davidpdx]

34. True, I guess most do have to go through polygraphs

Never thought of that, good point.

[davidpdx]

23. They have a right to block sites on computers within the base

Outside the base is another thing. The military is an employer. Obviously they can't stop people from accessing it outside the base. There are plenty of employers who block websites. My mom works for a hospital in the business office and several people spent time on Facebook, etc so they had to block it.

Am I for censorship? No. Employers do have a right to block websites with content that is objectionable.

As for Rush Limpballs, I wish they'd get rid of that crap as well.

[Psephos]

25. They can die for their country, but they can't read a newspaper.

WTF are they willing to die protecting, again?

[eaglesclaw]

29. Nothing Unusual about it, You are in the Military not the Boy Scouts

Any body who served in nam knows the AFVN radio Saigon was censored, and didn't allow heavy rock music. Hanoi Hanna played it, but we were also forbidden to listen to her enemy radio station. The third alternative was defiance radio from the base camp troops, and that was called the Bullchit band, and each battalion & division basecamps had their own radio station playing the heavy music the troops in the field enjoyed as well as delivering out news, etc. So there was Radio Bear Cat, Radio lai Kai, Bien Hoa, for all the Division camps, because the prc radios had a limited braodcast distance.

The bullchit band took a prc field radio set to an unused band, keyed open, and set next to a record player speaker. Some times these base camp radios were under the elevated tents, in a tent, in a bunker or cook shack, etc. There was kind of a game played out as the MPs attempted to locate these base radio stations and close them down by using tri- angulation methods. Meanwhile the night patrols could set up to that band and have the forbidden music.

In short - the radio was censored in nam to the troops.

[jtuck004]

38. And it was wrong and stupid and useless then too. n/t

[Iliyah]

31. Uh Huh

[DeSwiss]

32. Who's army is this again?

[Iliyah]

36. I'm asking again

where were you? The military gave radio to people like Rush.

[Iliyah]

33. Where the eff where you

Liberal.

[DemoTex]

35. But Limbaugh still pollutes Armed Forces Radio.

What is wrong with this picture?

[Iliyah]

37. Correct.

Misinformation, but oh no the P word.

[askeptic]

42. Well, just more evidence we live in a fascist country

especially when ppl like Limbaugh are allowed to propagandize our troops with their venomous rhetoric

[pmorlan1]

45. Censorship

The censorship is because they don't want our troops to know that the government is violating the Constitution that the military is sworn to protect and defend.