Air Force blocking blogs?

Posted By Uncle Jimbo

Ok everybody all loosened up? We have a situation that appears to be a moment of monumental foolishness on the part of the US Air Force. They have instituted a policy blocking almost all blogs and while that is bad, the rationale is worse, much worse. Here is my email requesting clarification.

Dear MAJ Schott,

I write for Pajamas Media as well as the award-winning military blog Blackfive. I read a piece at Wired that concerned me, and you were quoted in it saying the following.

  "AFNOC has imposed bans on all sites with "blog" in their URLs, thus cutting off any sites hosted by Blogspot. Other blogs, and sites in general, are blocked based on content reviews performed at the base, command and AFNOC level ...

    The idea isn't to keep airmen in the dark -- they can still access news sources that are "primary, official-use sources," said Maj. Henry Schott, A5 for Air Force Network Operations. "Basically ... if it's a place like The New York Times, an established, reputable media outlet, then it's fairly cut and dry that that's a good source, an authorized source," he said ... "

Is the quote accurate? Does that reflect the view that the US military now decides what sources of information service members may access? Will you now decide which magazines they can subscribe to, what DVDs they may buy?

The reason Blackfive is an award-winning blog is because we spend considerable time and effort debunking the many untruths and misperceptions perpetuated by those same major media outlets you laud. I suppose our troops should be treated to the high standards the NY Times and other major outlets used in reporting these staged propaganda events as news.

The world is a big, dangerous place MAJ Schott and you and the bright folks at AF Network Operations must certainly have better things to do than attempt a petty 1984 play to control the news. You don't own the news and neither does Old Media anymore. Blogs and other forms of new media are growing leaps and bounds specifically because of the shortcomings of the agenda-driven outlets you would limit our troops to.

I anxiously await your reply that this was all a prank played by an airman with an overzealous, and poorly-tuned funny bone.

I request any clarification from the B5 readership regarding this and will publish any pertinent info. WOW, what a bonehead move.

---

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Comments

Air Force blocking blogs?

Ok everybody all loosened up? We have a situation that appears to be a moment of monumental foolishness on the part of the US Air Force. They have instituted a policy blocking almost all blogs and while that is bad, the rationale is worse, much worse. Here is my email requesting clarification.

Dear MAJ Schott,

I write for Pajamas Media as well as the award-winning military blog Blackfive. I read a piece at Wired that concerned me, and you were quoted in it saying the following.

  "AFNOC has imposed bans on all sites with "blog" in their URLs, thus cutting off any sites hosted by Blogspot. Other blogs, and sites in general, are blocked based on content reviews performed at the base, command and AFNOC level ...

    The idea isn't to keep airmen in the dark -- they can still access news sources that are "primary, official-use sources," said Maj. Henry Schott, A5 for Air Force Network Operations. "Basically ... if it's a place like The New York Times, an established, reputable media outlet, then it's fairly cut and dry that that's a good source, an authorized source," he said ... "

Is the quote accurate? Does that reflect the view that the US military now decides what sources of information service members may access? Will you now decide which magazines they can subscribe to, what DVDs they may buy?

The reason Blackfive is an award-winning blog is because we spend considerable time and effort debunking the many untruths and misperceptions perpetuated by those same major media outlets you laud. I suppose our troops should be treated to the high standards the NY Times and other major outlets used in reporting these staged propaganda events as news.

The world is a big, dangerous place MAJ Schott and you and the bright folks at AF Network Operations must certainly have better things to do than attempt a petty 1984 play to control the news. You don't own the news and neither does Old Media anymore. Blogs and other forms of new media are growing leaps and bounds specifically because of the shortcomings of the agenda-driven outlets you would limit our troops to.

I anxiously await your reply that this was all a prank played by an airman with an overzealous, and poorly-tuned funny bone.

I request any clarification from the B5 readership regarding this and will publish any pertinent info. WOW, what a bonehead move.

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» Is the Air Force Out of Touch or Out of Context on Blogs? from SuccessCREEations, Inc.
Wired posted an article pointing out that the US Air Force has started blocking access to domain names with the word blog in the URL as a matter of general policy. Out of Touch? The thrust of the article is that the primary reason for the... [Read More]