Army Blocks Entire Guardian Website For Troops In Middle East And Asia [View all]

[Catherina]

Source: Huffington Post

The Huffington Post | By Jack Mirkinson Posted: 07/02/2013 8:24 am EDT


US soldiers, part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), stand guard on the outskirts of Laghman on June 5, 2013. The Afghan army and police have grown rapidly in a multi-billion international effort to build up the country's security forces, which now number roughly 350,000. AFP PHOTO/Waseem NIKZAD (Photo credit should read WASEEM NIKZAD/AFP/Getty Images)

The US military has now blocked access to the entire Guardian website at installations around the world, the paper reported Monday night.

On Friday, reports surfaced that stories about the National Security Agency's surveillance programs had been blocked at Army bases around the United States. The reason given was that the military did not want its employees to come across any classified information online, even if that information had been put into the public domain.

But a spokesman told the Guardian's Spencer Ackerman Monday that the ban had been extended to all troops serving in Afghanistan, the Middle East and south Asia--and that the whole site had been blocked.

The Army does not treat all news sites the same, though: the Washington Post, which also published stories about NSA programs, has not been blocked.





Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/02/army-guardian-blocked-troops_n_3533036.html

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The original article:

US military blocks entire Guardian website for troops stationed abroad

Troops deployed to Afghanistan and elsewhere in the Middle East and South Asia have 'theater-wide block' to Guardian

Spencer Ackerman in New York
guardian.co.uk, Monday 1 July 2013 22.29 BST

The US military has blocked access to the Guardian’s website for troops in the Middle East and south Asia, after disclosures about widespread US surveillance.

On Friday, the Pentagon and the US army told the Guardian that automated content filters installed on Department of Defense (DoD) networks to prevent the unauthorized dissemination of classified information had blocked access to selected aspects of the Guardian’s website.

But in for troops in Afghanistan, the Middle East and south Asia, the restriction applies to the entire website.

“This is a theater-wide block,” reads a page that loads when troops in Afghanistan using the Defense Department’s non-classified internet protocol (NIPR) network attempt to access the Guardian online.

“There are many reasons why this site might be blocked. It may be blocked for your protection, the protection of DoD assets or blocked based on Usfor-A [US forces command-Afghanistan] information systems security policy enclosure 18, Centcom regulation 25-206, joint ethics regulation (JER) 5500.7 or DAA directives,” the routed site reads.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/01/us-military-blocks-guardian-troops