Whitehouse bans all federal employees from viewing Wikileaks material at home and work-ATS included

reply to post by ExPostFacto


Communism. China blocks content from their citizens too. Sad day in America!

This is actually nothing new. Most all of government employees have a security level. As far as I can remember you always did run a risk of getting punished if you discussed or read any Confidential, Secret or Top Secret material in public. Of course it never helped to be given classified information and then to go off base and hear, what you where just told was Confidential, Secret or in some cases Top Secret being discussed at the donut shop by civilians. Nevertheless it is illegal, and always has been, to discuss or obtain Confidential, Secret, or Top Secret material in a public setting (which the internet most definately is). This is more of a re-iteration for government employees. The inforcement has really tapered off to the point noone remembers that it is and always has been illegal for government employees to read or discuss Confidential, Secret or Top Secret information in public.

What shocks me is the fact so many are shocked!

Sure some information which has been classified is actually information that doesn't affect national security or qualify for classification of any secured level. This REGULATION is actually in place to prevent leakage of this material which does affect national security. The fact it covers all levels of secured information is just to prevent information that may become significant to already be covered just in case.

I would find a stack of links to government regulations about this, but they are too easy to find when you google it. Not to mention, this should be common knowledge.

Now. Being a civilian is a totally different ball of wax. Civilians are not bound by the regulations that government employees are.

So are american people allowed to TALK to people from other countries who are reading through the material?

I work for a "defense" contractor, and was informed NOT to view wikileaks on my home computer.
naturally, wikileaks is blocked where i work as well.

I don't understand all the fuss
every child knows that embassies are spy posts
and politicians are nothing but professional liars
who would sell their own grandma

reply to post by ExPostFacto

reply to post by quantik

So are american people allowed to TALK to people from other countries who are reading through the material?

It sounds like non disclosure agreements are for the life of the informed? How could you even talk about something as common as WW2 if you learned something of importance while under non disclosure agreement? It is not like you can go type your "secret" into a search engine to check on the classification status.

As you say there are big differences in disclosure laws between countries like the USA and Germany. For example in Germany they are much more liberal with cryptographic products. Also German opinion polls of the 911 event score much higher with the idea that it was an implosion sponsored by the US government.

Actually this is going backfire, its really foolish to come out with something to hide, and most people are alot more awake than some of the posters assume.

And there are people who are alot less corrupt than some factions of the elite.

The bullies aren't going to be allowed to pick on the kids for alot longer.

Just another way to build this wikileaks up.

This demand really separtes the men .....from the autotomic idiots.
This is like the law that says you can only have missionary sex, who can enforce it?
What happens whe you tell someone they CAN'T do something?.......The exact opposite happens! Its almost like he wants them to see whats in those papers or at least to look and get in trouble. Maybe if the Federal workers look at this material, he is afraid it will change their mind about their allegience to whom they are now working. I just don't know why they issue these laws unless they really WANT people to break them, because they are not enforceable. I bet most of these Federal automatons WON'T look because they don't have a brain of their own anymore. They won't search for the truth all they can do is take orders whether bad or good......they don't know the difference. Like Windows operating systems, defunct, have to program them and give inputs to make anything happen, and no matter what happens, because you have selfish, gluttonous retards programming the machine...........you know the system will crash sonner or later.

Forgive my ignorance but by what authority can the president order government employees to do something? If it's not law, then it doesn't apply to government employees any more than it applies to the rest of us. It's nothing but a scare tactic. If Obama can tell White House employees what then can and cannot look at then he can tell the rest of us.

The "Confidential" or "Top Secret" stamp doesn't apply to one group of people more than others. It seems our dictator in chief is grabbing at straws.

Originally posted by wcitizen

You fail to address two very relevant and vital distinctions here. Your superior is either ignorant or deliberately using manipulation techniques.

The level of ignorance of my superiors I do not feel is relevant when having an intellectually honest discussion of the legal implications of cablegate.

Incidentally, that right to privacy is violated every day by the government.

Incidentally, the wrongs of one entity does not justify the wrongs of another.

Secondly, the Government is ACCOUNTABLE TO THE PEOPLE. A government which lies and deceives and witholds vital information from the public suppresses and therefore violates the public's right to hold its government accountable. This is a very, very serious breach of democracy and must not be allowed in a democratic country.

This is correct, the government is accountable, actually in two places, the GAO and to the people. Since the argument against the GAO will most likely be that they are also government so they cannot be trusted we will not address that. The government is accountable to the people, and the people have a chance to wield their power each election day. How the people wield their power is entirely up to them.


edit: I apologize for sounding combative, i just need some to feed my -eine addiction, caffeine and nicotine...apologies

Umm this is nothing new I don't see what the panic is. If a government employee see's classified information that isn't where it should be or being protected how it should be we have to report it. Doesn't mean we can just go ahead and look at it. Why is everyone acting like this didn't exist already? They send this reminder out every time a leak comes out. It's mostly for when you are on the job, they don't want us looking at those documents at work and crap.

Man you guys are into pushing that fear hard. Anyone who's worked in a government job knows that you aren't supposed to view things out of your securty level and if you do you have to reports it. Been like that for a long time...stop sippin the fear juice people.

reply to post by ExPostFacto


I'm a fed and this is all kind of taken out of context. There are hundreds of "blocked" sites from federal networks, such as porn and known malware, etc. The networks belong to the feds, they can block whatever they want whenever they want... its their house, they make the rules, just like Microsoft can block Apple sites from their HQ if they want.

There is no "law" about fed employees not being able to visit WL from home. More than likely many fed employees just got a very stern warning that they should not. Some of us got a lengthy email explaining in great detail WHY we should not. There is no federal law or mandate saying you can't, only that you might not want to do so.

reply to post by ExPostFacto


Wow well I haven't read any of them and I'm not a federal employee... I suppose I just have common sense.

2nd line.

reply to post by ExPostFacto


ROFL, I Love the US Government!
Please nice Employees move on nothing to see or the hear, move on or we must shoot you.

Well, one thing is abundantly clear: Whichever dolt wrote this "directive" has no children! (Which is probably a good thing for the human gene pool....)

Anyone who has ever dealt with a child (theirs or someone elses) know that the quickest and easiest way to get a child to do anything is to tell him NOT to do it.

Good job OMB! You're undoubtedly responsible for driving more and more government employees to read WikiLeaks. Which is also a good thing for the country as a whole.....

reply to post by ExPostFacto


They're just reiterating what responsibilities a Federal Employee has when dealing with Secret Information that was not classified by an Approved Entity. They are also blocking access to that information, which again, is reiterated law where protecting classified information is of utmost importance.

This is not a new law or a new way to curb your free speach this is merely a reminder of responsibilities.

Your title is misleading like so many other titles in this god damned forum.

This just shows that the world is run by an elite who do not want to be accountable. They don't want us knowing what they are doing in our name.

Stumbled across this as well what a joke.

BLack listed news article

Talking about WikiLeaks on Facebook or Twitter could endanger your job prospects, a State Department official warned students at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs this week. An email from SIPA’s Office of Career Services went out Tuesday afternoon with a caution from the official, an alumnus of the school. Students who will be applying for jobs in the federal government could jeopardize their prospects by posting links to WikiLeaks online, or even by discussing the leaked documents on social networking sites, the official was quoted as saying. “[The alumnus] recommends that you DO NOT post links to these documents nor make comments on social media sites such as Facebook or through Twitter,” the Office of Career Services advised students. “Engaging in these activities would call into question your ability to deal with confidential information, which is part of most positions with the federal government.”

Originally posted by sonofliberty1776
reply to post by wcitizen

 

Sorry, but whether you support the war or not, it was not illegal. Even the Obamanator voted for continued funding of the wars iirc. Either way, it was legally approved by the senate.

It was illegal because the information given to the Senate was incorrect - had even been tampered with.

second