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| TSA Backs Off Censoring 'Controversial Opinion' Sites |
| 2010-07-07 |
| After intense media scrutiny, the Transportation Security Administration on Tuesday backed off a new policy that would have restricted employees from visiting "controversial opinion" sites at work. Employees at the TSA were initially informed last Friday that five categories of websites would be blocked on internal computers. They included: chat/messaging, criminal activity, extreme violence and gruesome content, gaming and controversial opinion. That's odd, they left out Pron sites? Maybe not. But following questions about how broadly the last category would be interpreted, the TSA sent around an e-mail to employees on Tuesday saying "controversial opinion" sites would not be blocked. "After further review, TSA determined this category may contain some sites that do not violate TSA's policy and therefore has concluded that the category is no longer being considered for implementation," the e-mail said. "Our intent is not, and never has been, to limit your ability to access or share 'controversial opinions.'" The TSA explained that the five categories had been defined by their "IT software" and were based on concerns that those kinds of sites could either pose an "increased security risk" or violate the agency's "acceptable use" policy. The TSA said in a written statement earlier Tuesday, before the revised policy was announced, that the agency "routinely" improves its computer system to stay ahead of "cyber threats," and that the technology limiting website access is part of that. The TSA clarified that it would not block access to "critical commentary about the organization." The statement said the agency created websites like The TSA Blog to "promote diverse opinions." |
| Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC |
| #5 Oh, we care. Just not much... :p |
| Posted by: Pappy 2010-07-07 21:41 |
| #4 (That was me.)(Not that anyone cares, sniff...) |
| Posted by: Gabby 2010-07-07 19:27 |
| #3 Firewalls can be set up to block sites. Or can check against "Block Lists" to see if a site one is wanting to access is or is not on that list. |
| Posted by: Groting Ulolurt4898 2010-07-07 16:28 |
| #2 The Marriott Hotel in San Diego's Gas Lamp District has a computer in the lobby that filters Rantburg. Don't know what kind of filter software they were using, but this site came up as banned. I expect it would be banned under TSA guidelines too. |
| Posted by: bigjim-CA 2010-07-07 12:58 |
| #1 I work for a federal agency and our shop has two desktop computers. The funny thing is that their internet hookups go through two different servers. One goes through Great Lakes region and the other goes through the Southwest region. Guess which one blocks any site that has anything to do with firearms. :-/ |
| Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 2010-07-07 12:41 |