Air Force Blocks New York Times Site Over Wikileaks
The U.S. Air Force has blocked the website of The New York Times on its computers, because the paper published bits of secret diplomatic cables leaked by secret-sharing site Wikileaks. And don't try The Guardian or Le Monde, either.
The actual Wikileaks site was already banned. But why stop there, right? Air Force intelligence operatives seem to have ascertained that nefarious actors known as "journalists" are publishing excerpts of secret government documents in the shady hacker-run websites of fringe Maoist newsletters like the Times, Guardian, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, and El País. Those sites—and Foreign Policy's Wikileaks blog—have all been replaced by a page that says "ACCESS DENIED. Internet Usage is Logged & Monitored" and plays an 8-bit version of "The Star-Spangled Banner," according to The Wall Street Journal. (Kidding about the music! Though, it would be funny.)
Rest assured, airmen whose job requires them to access the Times' seditious coverage of pressing national-security issues like "Brooklyn: The Brand" can apparently obtain permission to see the site. Or just visit it on their home computers. What they shouldn't do, however, is subscribe to the military's own press clippings service, as Spencer Ackerman does:
I'm awaiting comment from the Air Force about its decision and will update this post when I do. But it's hard not to mention that my inbox just received the evening edition of a clipping service maintained by an aide to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Its first recommended noteworthy article: "Mullen Expresses Impatience With Pakistan On Visit," by the Times‘ Thom Shanker.
