The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has reportedly blocked access to certain websites from the federal agency’s computers.
According to CBS News, the TSA is preventing staffers from loading Internet pages that contain “controversial opinions.”
In addition, four other website categories have been deemed absolutely “inappropriate” for government access, including:
- Chat/Messaging.
- Criminal activity.
- Extreme violence (including cartoon violence) and gruesome content.
- Gaming.
Unsurprisingly, the TSA has not yet specified or commented on how it will determine if a website expresses a “controversial opinion.”
However, TSA spokeswoman Lauren Gaches did issue the following clarification to Federal News Radio:
“TSA routinely makes improvements to our information technology systems to stay ahead of evolving cyber threats to keep our systems secure. As part of this continued effort, TSA uses a security technology to limit access to categories of web sites that pose an increased security risk.
“TSA does not block access to critical commentary about the organization and in fact expressly created the TSA IdeaFactory and the TSA Blog to promote diverse opinions. TSA employees will be able to access web sites required for work purposes.”
