TSA To Block Websites With “Controversial Opinions”

Move to shut down free speech on the Internet accelerates

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com | Source
Monday, July 5, 2010

The Transportation Security Administration will block all websites that contain “controversial opinion” from its federal computers in the latest example of how Internet censorship is expanding in both the private and public sector as the federal government prepares to push through a power grab that will empower President Obama to shut down the world wide web with an emergency decree.

“The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is blocking certain websites from the federal agency’s computers, including halting access by staffers to any Internet pages that contain a “controversial opinion,” according to an internal email obtained by CBS News.”

The new rules came into force on July 1, and prevent TSA employees from accessing such content, though what is deemed “controversial opinion” is not explained. Undoubtedly, the ban list will include websites which specialize in criticism of the government and federal agencies.

The move to regulate and stifle free speech on the world wide web is accelerating after Senator Joe Lieberman introduced the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act, legislation that will hand Obama a figurative ‘kill switch’ to shut down certain parts of the Internet under the pretext of a national emergency. The bill was approved by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and now awaits a full Senate vote.

Internet censorship is expanding by stealth across numerous private and public network hubs. We routinely receive emails from visitors alarmed at the fact that their local library, university or transport center has blocked Alex Jones’ websites under the justification that they contain “hate speech”. Hate speech is being cited as an excuse to bar access to material critical of the state.

Indeed, at London’s St. Pancras station, one of the busiest international transport hubs in the world, Prison Planet.com, Infowars.com, and even mildly political websites are all censored on the facility’s free wi-fi network. In Communist China, where the state blocks most political websites, Alex Jones’ content is still accessible. In this instance, the Internet censorship policies of so-called free western nations are more draconian than those employed by the Chinese.

The move to censor certain websites is likely to be part of an effort to restrict access to stories about TSA agents abusing their power, examples of which have skyrocketed in recent years. This is all about preventing federal employees from figuring out that their entire career is nothing more than acting as goon enforcers for the state as America sinks further into tyranny.

An epidemic of TSA abuse at the nation’s airports has spread since 9/11, with TSA agents showing a penchant for harassing the easiest targets, from the elderly, to pregnant women, to the severely handicapped.

A large number of people have simply refused to travel to America anymore because entering the country is like trying to get into the old East Germany. This is killing the tourism industry and costing hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

A 2006 investigation by the Discover America Partnership found that tourism to America had sunk due to “a climate of fear and frustration that is turning away foreign business and leisure travelers from visiting the United States and damaging America’s image abroad.”

No less than a third of tourists vowed never to return to America after experiencing the treatment of Homeland Security officials at ports of entry. By early 2007, the U.S. had lost around 60 million visitors as a result of the stifling and intrusive security measures implemented since 9/11.

The video below documents several examples of TSA abuse and harassment.