TSA Lifts 'Controversial Opinion' Block

CBS News ran a story on July 3 about a Transportation Security Administration policy sent to employees informing them that officials there would ban their access to certain Web sites that offered chats and instant messaging, involved criminal activity, extreme violence (including cartoon violence) and gruesome content, and gaming. Also included in that list was anything deemed to be "controversial opinion." Who would decide what was controversial? What would be the criteria?

That raised a bit of stir in the blogosphere, where writers charged the Obama administration was looking to block opinions that it did not agree with.

So, TSA on Tuesday retracted the "controversial opinion category, according to an item posted in its TSA Blog.

[J]ust as many other government entities and corporations, TSA uses a security technology that limits access to certain categories of websites that are known to pose an increased security risk or violate the acceptable use policy for government computers. "Controversial opinion" is one of many of those categories. This category is an IT software catch-all phrase used to describe sites that may pose a security risk or violate the acceptable use policy, such as sites that promote destructive behavior to one's self or others. After taking a closer look, TSA determined this category may contain some sites that do not violate our acceptable use policy. This category is no longer being considered for implementation. However, employees will still need to avoid those sites that do violate TSA's acceptable use policy while using government computers. TSA employees can access any websites required for purposes of performing their job functions, and if they lose access to something they need, the access can be restored by contacting TSA's help desk.

OK, the other categories are fairly straightforward. But instant messaging? That may be hard for the younger workers to swallow. Would like to see an explanation for that one.