Intimidation at DND?

Defence Department staff have been warned against using government computers to sift through secret documents released by WikiLeaks.  An email dubbed "Wikileaks Notice" in the subject line says military computers are "not to be used to visit the Wikileaks (sic) site or any other websites containing such information."

OK, no big deal.  All federal departments have restrictions, which vary from one to another.  But DND doesn’t stop with that warning, and their planned procedures and justifications are bizarre.

Canadian Forces IT staff "may monitor attempts to view this site's material and will report attempts to the affected chains of command," it adds.

But –

The website has not been blocked by the Defence Department and employees have not been directed to not talk about the documents, MacLean added.

Why not block it if they seriously don’t want staff going there, especially if the department has legitimate IT security concerns.  Would save IT hours of monitoring – unless they want to tag people who are interested in Wikileaks.

DND’s justification for not allowing staff to visit Wikileaks -

The department fears accessing the site could expose government computers to "malicious search engine poisoning attacks" and that third parties might "collect and exploit visitor data or deliver malicious software through downloaded files."

Again, that doesn’t sound unreasonable to a layperson like me until we find out that similar directives do not appear to be applied to all public servants or departments. If there was indeed a problem with Wikileaks connected to viruses or “poisoning attacks,” it’s very likely all federal departments would be taking measures to protect their systems.

More weirdness -

As some of the information may be classified, downloading it onto or viewing it from government computers could also be a breach of security policy, it says.

But if it’s available for anyone to view and bits and pieces keep appearing in the media, that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

DND doesn’t stop at regulating staff while they are functioning as employees, either -

Staff were also warned to consider the similar risk of contamination to personal computers, smart phones and flash drives that access the site.

And the weirdness just goes on -

While they're not forbidden from accessing the material on their own time from home, MacLean said staff are discouraged from seeking out their own files.

And why would that be?  Why the threat note of warning not to seek out their own files?