Air Force Blocks NY Times, WaPo, Other Media

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Air Force, not content with blocking WikiLeaks and its mirrors, has begun blocking media sites carrying WL documents. "Air Force users who try to view the websites of the New York Times, Britain's Guardian, Spain's El Pais, France's Le Monde or German magazine Der Spiegel instead get a page that says, 'ACCESS DENIED. Internet Usage is Logged & Monitored'... The Air Force says it has blocked more than 25 websites that contain WikiLeaks documents, in order to keep classified material off unclassified computer systems. ... The move was ordered by the 24th Air Force... The Army, Navy, and Marines aren't blocking the sites, and the Defense Department hasn't told the services to do so, according to spokespeople for the services and the Pentagon."

Comments

Quick, Close the Barn Door!!!

[Machupo]

We don't want the stable-hands still inside to see that the horses are gone.

Re:Quick, Close the Barn Door!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

There may be good reasons to do this, such as legal reasons. Just because they are public knowledge and everyone in the world has access to them, it doesn't mean all these documents are suddenly unclassified.

Therefore, looking at classified material and leaving them up in a web browser might be a legal breach.

Congress needs to pass a law stating that any publicly available document is automatically unclassified for this to be OK!

Re:Quick, Close the Barn Door!!!

[mr100percent]

Ah, so when the Taliban do read them and the US forces don't, it will put the Americans at an advantage?

Re:Quick, Close the Barn Door!!!

[dgatwood]

Except that the military isn't a closed ecosystem. That becomes useless when the answer to the question can be as simple as "My [wife, brother, friend, preacher, ...] told me in a phone conversation last week."

No, this has nothing to do with any of the altruistic purposes that folks have suggested. The reason is pure and simple. The government wants to punish the news media for its role in distributing the information. Expect other federal organizations to add similar blocks in the next few days. I'm actually surprised it didn't happen sooner. It's just like how the previous administration punished the media for being too critical of Bush by throwing their folks out of the White House press corps. The Obama administration likes to use the word "transparency", but in truth, like all governments, they only want transparency when it doesn't cast them or their cronies in a bad light.

If the federal government costs those news organizations enough eyes, they'll think twice before crossing them again, and more to the point, so will all the other news organizations. This is why freedom of the press must be near-absolute, and why the government should be disallowed from any direct action to block websites for any reason. (By "direct action", I'm leaving a loophole for K-12 public schools to pay a non-government vendor to maintain a block list.) The government has shown time and time again that it cannot be trusted to sit back and allow the free press to criticize it and air its dirty laundry---that it cannot be trusted to allow the free press to do its job as a watchdog and as a check and balance against government abuse. Because it cannot resist the temptation to interfere inappropriately, it must not be allowed to interfere at all.

Re:Quick, Close the Barn Door!!!

[interkin3tic]

Air Force, meet Streisand Effect. You to are about to get to know each other quite well I think.

I doubt their intent was to keep this thing under more wraps. I would guess this is someone who is just trying to cover their ass. The "in order to keep classified material off unclassified computer systems" sounds like something that, despite being completely idiotic in this case, is still someone's job. I could definitely imagine a general or congressman getting upset because airmen were viewing wikileaks and, I don't know "getting demoralized" or something, and someone's ass being on the line as a scapegoat for that technicality.

The fact that it will do nothing in terms of the information getting out doesn't matter to the people doing it: their jobs are still safer. It seems to me that extremely few people in the military or government ever got in trouble for erring on the side of "censor it."

Re:Quick, Close the Barn Door!!!

[dcollins]

"...viewing leaked classified documents, even though it is on the public domain, on an unclassified DoD computer results in a security violation."

No, the policy makes no sense on its face and is worthy of laughter and ridicule.

Millitary inteligence

[visionsofmcskill]

So the ONLY people willfully kept in the dark are the soldiers meant to protect us? Are the very people who are the most likely to know the dirt anyway?

F$%^ing brilliant. Next up, weapons ban limited to the army.

Hey soldier, this dam is broke, please fix it... here's a spoon

Blind obedience to authority without morals...

[A beautiful mind]

...caused a lot of the ugly chapters of history. Being part of an organisation makes you responsible for it's actions.

Keep in mind...

[not already in use]

Most of the guys at the top making these decisions are old and don't understand how the internet works. It's kinda cute, really.

Executive Order 13526 Section 1.1(4)(c)

[Anonymous Coward]

posting anon on purpose
Executive Order 13526 Section 1.1(4)(c) is why you can't read wikileaks as a government contractor or a Government employee and why its being blocked by some AF networks (not all). We would lose our jobs and possibly be fined and/or prison time.

        Section 1.1. Classification Standards. (a) Information may be originally classified under the terms of this order only if all of the following conditions are met:
        (1) an original classification authority is classifying the information;
        (2) the information is owned by, produced by or for, or is under the control of the United States Government;
        (3) the information falls within one or more of the categories of information listed in section 1.4 of this order; and
        (4) the original classification authority determines that the unauthorized disclosure of the information reasonably could be expected to result in damage to the national security, which includes defense against transnational terrorism, and the original classification authority is able to identify or describe the damage.
        (b) If there is significant doubt about the need to classify information, it shall not be classified. This provision does not:
        (1) amplify or modify the substantive criteria or procedures for classification; or
        (2) create any substantive or procedural rights subject to judicial review.
        (c) Classified information shall not be declassified automatically as a result of any unauthorized disclosure of identical or similar information.
        (d) The unauthorized disclosure of foreign government information is presumed to cause damage to the national security.

Re:Executive Order 13526 Section 1.1(4)(c)

[Anonymous Coward]

Transcription:

The barn door being wide open shall not constitute cause for action. You are not to notice the barn door being open, unless a civilian source tells you that the barn door is open. If the civilian source makes pictures available which might show the barn door being open, you are not to look.

No!
. It makes no absolutely zero sense to anyone whose head isn't stuck firmly up the military's ass.