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?

1984 is not a how-to manual, Harper

But he sure seems to think it is.

Natural Resources Canada scientists were told this spring they need “pre-approval” from Minister Christian Paradis’ office to speak with national and international journalists. Their “media lines” also need ministerial approval, say documents obtained by Postmedia News through access-to-information legislation.

The documents say the “new” rules went into force in March and reveal how they apply to not only to contentious issues including the oilsands, but benign subjects such as floods that occurred 13,000 years ago.

Holy paranoid PM, Batman!

Before any of you wingnuts go on about who cares what happened 13,000 years ago, they why are we paying people to message-manage scientists about that?  And consider also that all messages are being managed and edited.

They also give a glimpse of how Canadians are being cut off from scientists whose work is financed by taxpayers, critics say, and is often of significant public interest — be it about fish stocks, genetically modified crops or mercury pollution in the Athabasca River.

I don’t know about you, but I sure want to know what’s in my food and water.

The control and micro-management points to a high level of “science illiteracy” in the upper ranks of the federal government, (Weaver) says, and “incredible disrespect” for both the researchers and the taxpayers footing the government’s multi-billion-dollar science bill.

“The sad reality is that these guys in Ottawa think federal scientists work for them,” says Weaver. “They don’t, they work for the people of Canada.  This is science funded by Canada for the public good,” he says. “It is not science funded to produce briefing notes for ministers so they can get elected in the next federal campaign.”

Canadians had better wake up and put a stop to this muzzling and editing.  We pay for reports and studies, we should expect and receive the truth.  It isn’t that the government considers us too fragile to handle the truth, it’s that it knows that we will indeed grasp it and expect those we elect to act on the information for our benefit, not theirs.