US censors websites

US MARINES stationed in Iraq are complaining that the US government is restricting access their access to websites too much.

Along with porn sites, on the Army's list of banned sites include mail sites such as Yahoo, AT&T, Hotmail. The censors are also blocking blogs and sites that do not agree with the current administration.

One marine wrote to a site called Wonkette to tell them that it was on the banned list. He said he didn't mind The Army blocking access to porn sites, because it was a government network but he and the troops were getting miffed that access to email and possibly-not-toeing-the-government-line websites was a bit much.

Apparently the censorship is being done by the USMC Network Operations Center in Quantico, VA.

They don't like it when troops want read minute-by-minute updates of Anna Nicole Smith's appearance before the Supreme Court or read birthday cards to disgraced lobbyists.

More here. µ