Air Force 'Big Brother' Blocks Blogs, Content Sites (NewsFactor)

A large organization decides that blogs cut productivity, provide misleading information and could compromise security. It discontinues access for its personnel, even though information is a key weapon in competition. The question is whether this is a smart policy for a large organization, especially the U.S. Air Force.

According to a report this week in Wired, the Air Force is eliminating access for its troops to virtually any site that uses the term "blog." Sites are also being blocked because of a negative review of content by supervising personnel. The move comes, according to the publication, as the Cyber Command of the Air Force Network Operations Center (AFNOC) takes over control of what sites Air Force personnel can visit, a responsibility previously borne by each major command.

BLOCK FIRST, THEN REVIEW

Maj. Henry Schott of AFNOC is quoted by Wired as saying that the Air Force personnel can still access "primary, official-use sources," such as established media like The New York Times. The basic idea is that non-legitimate sources of news shouldnt be read during work time because of credibility, security risks, and loss of productivity.

The Air Force will block other, less-established sources on the basis that they provide less credible information. The policy, according to one Cyber Command spokesperson, is to "block first and then review exceptions." This means that Air Force personnel posting to or reading from sites that might relate to technical or military subjects have found themselves caught in the filters.

The tools used by the Air Force have included Secure Computings SmartFilter software, running the Web Security Appliance platform from Blue Coat software. According to a press release on Blue Coats site, SmartFilters international control list "continuously categorizes millions of Web sites into content groups, including pornography, gambling and MP3."

The Air Force has also banned some sites for absorbing too much bandwidth, such as YouTube and MySpace.

THE ENEMY HAS BROWSERS

Other military branches have also been cracking down on a variety of Net activities. Last May, for instance, the U.S. Army issued an order prohibiting soldiers in Iraq from posting to blogs or sending personal e-mail without first clearing the activity with a superior officer.

But the attitude demonstrated by AFNOC and the U.S. Army is not universally held among military personnel. For instance, Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, a former leader of the American military in Iraq, has noted that modern wars are, at least in part, battles of information and soldiers should be encouraged to help wage that information war on their own.

Many businesses have come to similar conclusions about attempts to prevent employees from reading what customers or competitors are posting. As noted by Susan Katz Keating, an investigative journalist who runs a national security blog, the blogs that are being blocked by the Air Force "are freely available to the enemy."