[At-Large] US PTO Blocks Access to Certain Websites

John R. Levine johnl at iecc.com
Fri Sep 21 01:26:49 UTC 2012


> Makes you wonder what the contractor was doing creating the filter in the
> first place.

Government networks all have filters to block access to porn and illegal 
materials.

I don't know what the PTO was like 30 years ago, but these days it's 
infamously demoralized and poorly managed.  Particularly during the 
radical outsourcing of the Bush administration, I can easily believe they 
would have contracted with some commercial filter company and not provided 
adequate oversight.  Also keep in mind that a major reason for the filters 
is to avoid claims of a hostile work environment due to stuff that 
co-workers are viewing, so the incentive is to over rather than 
underblock.

In other words, apply Hanlon's Razor.

Regards,
John Levine, johnl at iecc.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies",
Please consider the environment before reading this e-mail. http://jl.ly



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