Update: TSA drops policy blocking 'controversial' sites
I reported on this on the 6th, being one of many to do so. It looks like we notched up a success. Any success at getting decency out of the TSA is pretty amazing. Maybe someone reminded them that there is an election in less than 4 month's time.
"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an uproar from conservative bloggers and free-speech activists, the Transportation Security Administration late Tuesday rescinded a new policy that would have prevented employees from accessing websites with "controversial opinions" on TSA computers at work.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.
Source
3 comments:
Ya mean somebody's actually listening to us? Could it be? Nah..
nah. They continue the practice (which no doubt was in place anyway, but not officially) and rescind the written policy.
In other words, nothing changes. If an employee dares complain about a site being unavailable, he's quickly worked out of the agency.
Firing him for "visiting non-work related websites from the office" would be the obvious way to do that.
And thus noone would dare complain if they're not able to visit Atlas Shrugged (for example), because the complaint could loose them their jobs.
On the other side of the coin. Here in NYC, at JFK airport, the TSA "agents" are the former employees of a private company that handled security at JFK. They were/are some of the fatest, laziest, former welfare recipients you'll ever see. Might that have anything to do with the fact that JFK has one of the highest theft-from-passengers rates in the nation? Hmm...
The only thing that's changed is that now they're part of a federal agency, given fancy uniforms, "much" bigger paychecks, and "loads" of authority. Take note if you're ever at JFK. Also, see if you can find one that's Caucasian.
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