U.S. Air Force Blocks Access to Blogs
Chances are, if you're in the U.S. Air Force, you're not going to be reading this today. That's because Switched is a blog (short for Web log) and the Air Force has decided that most blogs are bad -- or at least not legitimate sources of news.
You may think that's an oversimplification of the matter, but tell that to the Air Force, which, according to Wired, has just started automatically blocking access to almost all sites with the word blog in the Web address or on the Web site itself. Access is blocked for all active personnel who get online at work or on duty.
The new rule does allow for access to "an established, reputable media outlet," like the New York Times, and, presumably, even the blogs on the New York Times site.
The Air Force Network Operations Center, under the service's new "Cyber Command," typically will block all sites first, and then review which ones should be permitted to make their way through to Air Force personnel.
The concern is that leaked information will wend its way through blogs and into the wrong hands (although major news outlets are cited as being the primary source of sensitive information being leaked). YouTube and MySpace are banned because -- according to the Air Force -- they take up too much bandwidth.
As for the harm a blog can actually cause, one retired Air Force officer remarks that it's not necessarily what the blog itself may state but instead it's the good intentions of an airman who posts a comment or correction. In doing so, he or she may reveal more than intended -- and put good information into the hands of bad people.
Oddly enough, some Web sites that are considered recommended reading for airmen by the Air Force itself have been blocked because they are characterized as blogs.
But perhaps the Air Force only has itself to blame for blogs. After all, didn't the military invent the Internet?
From Wired.
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