TSA to Block "Controversial Opinion" on the Web

Originally posted by Lolliek
So this goes into effect Monday? Wonder when the lawsuits will start? I can understand a corporation blocking gaming on company time, or possibly porn, but maybe an alternative news site? Really?

That slippery slope is getting steeper, isn't it?

Lawsuits? What kind of lawsuits?

"My boss blocked my access to ATS at work, on the work computers, that I use on work time."

Oh let me be in the room to watch that harrowing case battle its way to the supreme court.

Originally posted by K J Gunderson

Originally posted by jdub297
A public employee's union to protect your "workplace rights" and wages. Something the general public does not have.

Since when do you have any "workplace right" to just surf the net?

Thus, more public funding for more public employees and more public employee's union members, and more public employee's union contributions to the politicians funding more public employees who join public employee's unions who fund politicians who fund public employment.
Stimulus works!

I am not sure you are reading the same article that I did. What are you talking about more this and more that?

Maybe my sarcasm is too subtle for you.

TSA employees no doubt feel ENTITLED to surf at will or this wouldn't be an issue.

Change TSA to "GM" or "DMV" and the issue is still the same:

We (public/union-supported employees) have the "right" to waste our employers' time because we are protected.

jw

Lots of companies do this. I'm sure those people in the DHS who still need access to perform their actual job duties and responsibilities (like the FBI, the CIA and NCS, and the NSA) will have it. And the TSA people can still go home and read controversial opinion to their hearts' content.

[edit on 4-7-2010 by ~Lucidity]

Not seeing the issue here at all. I think it's political correctness gone awry. "Controversial opinion" is likely the lawyers' and PR reps' new term for "hate site." Virtually every group has at least one website which caters to their place in the world while belittling anyone outside that place. For instance, the websites which are sympathetic to the AZ illegal alien law... that's a controversial opinion which the feds likely don't want employees dallying around on the clock.

I think it is vital here to wait until a list of these controversial opinion sites is released before making any statement of merit. If it's populated with stormfront, black panthers, and La Raza websites... obviously it's grossly different from ATS, WND, and Drudgereport. Also, I'm pretty much comfortable with any federal employee being blocked from even being allowed to fiddle on the web while at work. My tax dollars are already wasted woefully by this crappy government, now they're also being used to provide web access and, likely, clock time to TSA employees? Unacceptable.

It's a pity they didn't institute this directive years ago for all federal employees.

If they had, the SEC might have actually reacted to info on, amongst others, Bernie Madoff, instead of spending all day whacking off to online porn!

If the staff cannot get through a working day without spending a portion of their time surfing the net, on taxpayer funded time, then they should go get another job.

My first thought was about this creating a "slippery slope".

Then I thought that ATS would immediately be one of the blocked sites for all the "controversial" anti-government and anti-obama threads and posts.

Last, I coonsidered how ATS might end up being "grandfathered in" - automatically included in other internet blocks - because the government was blocking it - if internet blocking spreads to other industries and perhaps the internet as a whole.

Could protecting constitutional rights now be shifting from the 2nd amendment to the first?

reply to post by centurion1211


Relax, this is about what you are allowed to look at ON WORK COMPUTERS while earning money ON WORK TIME. There are plenty of jobs where you do not even get to sit at a computer but I have not heard a rally cry for the censorship inherent in not giving each employee a computer and internet access. They should not be browsing the web at work anyway.

My G/F cannot even take a pager or cell phone into work with her. Please people stop reading into this something not there. No one is telling anyone what they can or cannot look at on their own computers on their own time here.

Would you rather TSA employees are looking for weapons or reading the latest Nibiru thread on ATS?

[edit on 6-7-2010 by K J Gunderson]

reply to post by K J Gunderson


People at work should do work - especially if funded by the taxpayers.

The key to my post was the creation of yet another slippery slope, and that ATS could well be considered "controversial" enough to be blocked.

Originally posted by centurion1211
reply to post by K J Gunderson

 

People at work should do work - especially if funded by the taxpayers.

The key to my post was the creation of yet another slippery slope, and that ATS could well be considered "controversial" enough to be blocked.

It already is. I know all kinds of people that have told me that ATS is blocked at work. I worked in a small office for a time where it was blocked. I had the IT guy change it for me. ATS just fell under the security level. There is no slippery slope here. So what if ATS is controversial at work, on work time, on work computers? It is a long long stretch to get that slope out in the private world. Every site but the TSA site should be marked controversial on their computers.

No big deal here. Employers have the right to block whatever they see fit. They own the computers and people should be working instead of browsing the web in the first place.

My work blocks a lot of stuff. I can't get to youtube or facebook. ATS is not blocked.....yet.

I don't see what the problem is with expecting federal employees to actually work while they're on the clock. If it's really that critical for you to check banned IP's while at work, get an Iphone like the rest of us!

This doesn't seem to be a big deal at first glance. Employers can and do regulate what their employees at work. They should do this because workers should be productive or they are a drain.

Then I realized that "TSA" is an anagram of "ATS..." Now I'm worried

Well the computers are owned by the company or department. I will start to worry when they demand that they follow rules while surfing from home, but I suppose this is only a step towards that. It`s inevitable. Remember the old story about putting a frog in a pot of cold water and slowly raising the temperature till the water boils and as long as its a gradual rise in temperature, the frog will not even notice or care enough to leap out of the pot.
If I worked there I would send them an email with a list of things and ask them to go down the list and put a yes or a no indicating if the subject or opinion is considered controversial.
Some say Stephen Hawkings black hole theories are controversial. The same could be said of opinions from and about Einstein, Jesus, Mohammed, God, SantaClaus, the pope, the president, high fructose corn syrup, the apollo moon landing, the age of the earth/universe, etc.,etc.,etc.
The funny thing is, these "banned materials" will change depending on if the boss is a democrat or republican, and will need to be modified daily as the definition of controversial changes and future events shape our society and its boundaries.


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

reply to post by jdub297


"Stimulus works! "

works more than the gov't employees are appearantly......
they seem to be spending their time on porn sites, gaming and gambling sites, chatting and messaging, getting into extreme violence, and criminal activity!!!

wondering, could this be the result of the embarrassing revelation that those that were assigned to oversee the big banks, not to mention bp were, well, too busy looking at porn to do their jobs???

I am with some of the ones who already posted...
you are at work, to work, not screw around on the internet! it's not going against any of your rights if your boss decides to block you from your favorite message board in hopes that some work might get done. after all some of us have to work a whole 8 or more hours with no computer at all to entertain us.....
now, that should be considered cruel and unusual punishment, I guess....