Blocked

Posted by Pia Malbran

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is blocking certain websites from the federal agency's computers, including halting access by staffers to any Internet pages that contain a "controversial opinion," according to an internal email obtained by CBS News.

The email was sent to all TSA employees from the Office of Information Technology on Friday afternoon.

It states that as of July 1, TSA employees will no longer be allowed to access five categories of websites that have been deemed "inappropriate for government access."

The categories include:

• Chat/Messaging

• Controversial opinion

• Criminal activity

• Extreme violence (including cartoon violence) and gruesome content

• Gaming

The email does not specify how the TSA will determine if a website expresses a "controversial opinion."

There is also no explanation as to why controversial opinions are being blocked, although the email stated that some of the restricted websites violate the Employee Responsibilities and Conduct policy.

The TSA did not return calls seeking comment by publication time.

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I humbly and gratefully accept this great honor from TSA on behalf of www.anddomestic.com.

We began as a small operation and many times felt like giving up cursing the darkness and just lighting a candle. As we look back now in retrospect it is amazing that we were publishing hate-filled and spiteful (but true) articles about the obuma administration back when the rest of the country was still enthralled with him.

Now, when some of the timid journalists are beginning to whisper among themselves that "they perceive that perhaps the emperor isn't fully dressed." anddomestic.com is still shouting that obuma or sostero or whatever the hell his name is, is a muslim fraud, a corrupt criminal from the underbelly of Chicago, bent on destroying capitalism, America, you and me.

We thank the TSA for this distinction, the moral equivalent of a Pulitzer Prize, and we thank Baraq Hussein Obuma for making it possible. We look forward to covering his trial and execution in the near future.

EnemyoftheState

U.S. Constitution - Amendment 1

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

TSA drops policy blocking 'controversial' sites

Revises 'acceptable use' for Internet access after criticism

By Joseph Weber and David R. Sands

After an uproar from conservative bloggers and free-speech activists, the Transportation Security Administration late Tuesday rescinded a new policy that would have prevented employees from accessing websites with "controversial opinions" on TSA computers at work.

The ban on "controversial opinion" sites, issued late last week, was included as part of a more general TSA Internet-usage policy blocking employee access to gambling and chat sites, as well as sites that dealt with extreme violence or criminal activity.

But the policy itself became controversial as the Drudge Report and a number of conservative bloggers highlighted the possibility that the policy could be used to censor websites critical of the agency or of the Obama administration in general. The American Civil Liberties Union also questioned the language.

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I hate to sound like I'm hitting you from both sides, but why exactly do TSA employees have a need to access ANY non-TSA-related websites on TSA computers at work? Most businesses in the U.S. have strict policies on the use of web-enabled PC for non-business use and they monitor them for abuse. As a part-owner of this business (the U.S.) through all the money I have invested via taxes and fees and the sweat equity I expended in 26 years of providing armed protection to the business, I would be extremely annoyed to find that the current management team was allowing employees to "slack off" on the job.

Be advised that, if this situation is not corrected forthwith, I shall call a meeting of my fellow owners and see to it that the entire management team is replaced in November.

EnemyoftheState