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Airman says Air Force Web ban hurts military

Type "dildo" into Wikipedia's search bar and what do you get? If you happen to be on a U.S. Air Force computer, a warning that the link you were about to view has been blocked. No big deal, right? At stateside bases, the Air Force justifies blocking Web pages as a productivity move. Similarly, crossword puzzles, Flash videogame sites, YouTube, and even eBay are now off-limits. Understandably. But blogs — some of the Web's most diverse sources for news and commentary, which we might translate into actionable intelligence? With each passing week, fewer and fewer remain available.

This becomes more ludicrous overseas. While Army and Navy personnel enjoy comparatively unfiltered Internet access, the Air Force implements a laughable system that censors most websites not listed in its permitted database. If productivity is the issue, then how does the USAF explain this policy on computers used outside working hours, and located in recreation centers?

But my real complaint? It's not that this is yet another morale-crushing policy by the world's greatest Chair Force. It's that the ban may actually hurt our ability to fight. Foreign-language skills are vitally needed. Some of the best instructional clips are on YouTube. But Air Force personnel can't view them.

This post was guest-written by a senior airman in the United States Air Force. It likely won't be read by his colleagues.

(Photo by AP/David Zalubowski)

1:00 PM on Thu Feb 28 2008
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sample032 at 01:22 PM on 02/28/08
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"[My real concern is] that the ban may actually hurt our ability to fight. Foreign-language skills are vitally needed. Some of the best instructional clips are on YouTube. But Air Force personnel can't view them."

This brings us to today's YouTube Latin lesson:

+ Watch video
matto at 01:47 PM on 02/28/08
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Only terrorists use the internet.
SwatLax at 02:11 PM on 02/28/08
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@sample032: Thanks for that. It brigns back fond memories of middle school Latin.

High school Latin sucked, though, because the school was phasing out the Latin program...
jeffabc at 09:09 PM on 02/28/08
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welcome to the wonderful world of Websense
pseudonym at 11:43 PM on 02/28/08
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Some time ago, I noticed that whenever I posted pictures of nude or semi-nude women, linked to "sexy" commercials or to anything racy from the "subservient chicken" family, the traffic to my blog would explode from places with military bases. In fact, it was so obvious and overwhelming that one time, I used the appropriate tag and while I had them there, I suggested that perhaps they could use the Google: Translate workaround.
MasterSergeant at 10:27 PM on 03/04/08
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This is bullshit. I can tell you that this young Airman who is whinning about his ability to access "youtube" instructional videos is simply doing that... whinning. There is no job in the Air Force that requires anyone to watch youtube vids or any other site blocked from the base's servers. Should any intelligence section need access to the entire WWW they get it. It's nothing for the IT freaks to just make it happen! This kid is probebly sitting around killing time and is pissy that he can't get to his daily dose of blogerific porn. He cries about a moral crushing policy - Are you freaking kidding me when your uniformed brothers are in Iraq? Get on your own computer after work and get over it... and get back to work Airman.