Jump to content
Join the Unexplained Mysteries community today! It's free and setting up an account only takes a moment.
- Sign In or Create Account -

The DOD is blocking access to some news sites


seeder

Recommended Posts

Land of the Free...and all that jazz

"US army blocks access to Guardian website to preserve 'network hygiene"

Military admits to filtering reports and content relating to government surveillance programs for thousands of personnel

The US army has admitted to blocking access to parts of the Guardian website for thousands of defence personnel across the country.

A spokesman said the military was filtering out reports and content relating to government surveillance programs to preserve "network hygiene" and prevent any classified material appearing on unclassified parts of its computer systems.

more:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/28/us-army-blocks-guardian-website-access

or you may like this story/angle instead

What began as a rumor that the military brass was ordering soldiers not to view news about the whistleblower revelations that the NSA is spying on all Americans has swelled into a confirmed military-wide censorship campaign using a high-tech computer filtering system.

The US News and World Report is reporting that the DoD is blocking access to all articles related to the NSA scandal from all DoD computers. The filter reportedly effects millions of computers and potentially thousands of alternative news websites.

http://www.activistpost.com/2013/06/dod-blocks-millions-of-computers-from.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

After reading the following earlier this month this new step is not shocking at all.

DoD Warns Employees of Classified Info in Public Domain

As a new wave of classified documents published by news organizations appeared online over the past week, the Department of Defense instructed employees and contractors that they must neither seek out nor download classified material that is in the public domain.

“Classified information, whether or not already posted on public websites, disclosed to the media, or otherwise in the public domain remains classified and must be treated as such until it is declassified by an appropriate U.S. government authority,” wrote Timothy A. Davis, Director of Security in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Intelligence), in a June 7 memorandum.

“DoD employees and contractors shall not, while accessing the web on unclassified government systems, access or download documents that are known or suspected to contain classified information.”

*snip*

http://blogs.fas.org/secrecy/2013/06/dod-classified/

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Network Hygiene". Can't wait 'till all the other U.S. government agencies pick on up this doublethink phrase.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hundreds of Classified Leaks Under Review by IC Inspector General

http://blogs.fas.org/secrecy/2013/06/icig-leaks/

Leaks are also common as noted above but rarely as they are now where Snowden appears to be a drop box (no definitive proof he did this alone and perhaps is a repository and accumulation of others combining leaks) and is now dumping them via the media.

So when there is an intersection of the media and classified information it is no surprise that military and defense personnel and contractors will have restrictions.

As is the way things go as far as rules and regs are not how they go in the civilian world. Not a huge surprise here.

Some will sensationalize and conspiratorially theorize but that is just not realisitic. It might sell more print for our very free and liberal media...

Edited by The world needs you
Link to comment
Share on other sites

When the guys and gals sign and raise their hands for the oath they become property of the US government.... this is one of the least ways their freedom is limited day to day I think..

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

But they cant censor mobile phones from browsing the stories though, can they? Second thoughts, Maybe they can as its wifi too?

.

Edited by seeder
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I guess they should all come clean, because this salami tactic (slice by slice) is going to hurt the US more than Iraq and Afghanistan and the extrajudicial killings combined. These guys know a lot and the longer this takes the worse the allies are getting ticked off.

Now they leaked a spying scandal on the EU representation in Washington, as Der Spiegel reports in tomorrows edition.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Network Hygiene". Can't wait 'till all the other U.S. government agencies pick on up this doublethink phrase.

This is not a new term or approach either.

From July 2010:

*snip*

“This is about setting people to high standards, and maintaining those standards,” Mauney said. Like hand washing, he said, “it should be second nature to everyone operating on the net.”

Allen said his biggest concern in cyber is educating all users about risks. Young people who have grown up with the Internet sometimes aren’t cautious enough, such as some Marines who have posted their deployment dates on Facebook, he said.

“Our biggest problem is … the digital natives who are very comfortable with YouTube and other things who don’t understand the threats behind it,” Allen said. “That’s not their fault - that’s our fault. It’s a matter of educating them.”

Even after Cyber Command is fully operational, Mauney said, its staff will need to be flexible to change. “As the security environment changes – and we know it will – we’ll have to change how we do business,” he said.

http://1.usa.gov/cXlQ8K

Also from two days ago, a report stated that no website is blocked just certain content is.

*snip*

Presidio employees described how they could access the U.S. site, www.guardiannews.com, but were blocked from articles, such as those about the NSA, that redirected to the British site.

Sources at the Presidio said Jose Campos, the post's information assurance security officer, sent an email to employees early Thursday saying The Guardian's website was blocked by Army Cyber Command "in order to prevent an unauthorized disclosure of classified information."

NETCOM is a subordinate to the Army Cyber Command, based in Fort Belvoir, Va., said its website.

Campos wrote if an employee accidentally downloaded classified information, it would result in "labor intensive" work, such as the wipe or destruction of the computer's hard drive.

He wrote that an employee who downloads classified information could face disciplinary action if found to have knowingly downloaded the material on an unclassified computer.

*snip*

Van Vleet said the department does not determine what sites its personnel can choose to see on the DOD system, but "relies on automated filters that restrict access based on content concerns or malware threats."

He said it would not block "websites from the American public in general, and to do so would violate our highest-held principle of upholding and defending the Constitution and respecting civil liberties and privacy."

The Guardian declined to comment, but its editor-in-chief, Alan Rusbridger, sent a link to The Herald's story on Twitter.

Restricted web access to The Guardian is Armywide, officials say

If The Guardian is hosting material that is classified, has not been declassified, then having those with clearances read it would be a violation. Should we just scrap the rules?

Maybe allow contraband onto our military bases? Allow thumb drives into a SCIF? Civilians get to do all these things well why shouldn't they? They do have sensible rules in place.

Edited by The world needs you
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.