Keith Vaz, head of the Commons home affairs committee. Photograph: Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images
A powerful group of MPs will investigate the Guardian's publication of stories about mass surveillance based on leaks by US whistleblower Edward Snowden, as part of a wider inquiry into counter-terrorism.
Keith
Vaz, the Labour head of the Commons home affairs committee, said he
would look into "elements of the Guardian's involvement in, and
publication of, the Snowden leaks" hours after the prime minister
suggested a select committee might look at the issue.
It had
emerged the matter would be considered by Vaz's parliamentary committee
after former Tory cabinet minister Liam Fox asked him to investigate
what damage the Guardian may have caused to national security.
"I
have received a letter from Liam Fox requesting that the home affairs
select committee consider elements of the Guardian's involvement in, and
publication of, the Snowden leaks," Vaz said.
"I will be writing
to assure Dr Fox that the committee is currently conducting an inquiry
into counter-terrorism and we will be looking at this matter as part of
it."
A spokesman for Vaz could not confirm whether Alan
Rusbridger, the Guardian editor-in-chief, would be called to give
evidence, saying this would be a matter for all committee members to
decide.
Eric Blair Activist Post
After the initial surge of web traffic to alternative news websites following The Guardian
breaking the NSA spying story, traffic has slowed considerably despite
the continued interest in the NSA story as well as other alternative
headlines.
This dramatic drop in traffic may be due to broad censorship by the Department of Defense on "millions of computers".
What began as a rumor
that the military brass was ordering soldiers not to view news about
the whistleblower revelations that the NSA is spying on all Americans
has swelled into a confirmed military-wide censorship campaign using a
high-tech computer filtering system.
The US News and World Report is reporting that the DoD is blocking access to all
articles related to the NSA scandal from all DoD computers. The filter
reportedly effects millions of computers and potentially thousands of
alternative news and civil liberties websites. According to U.S. News:
The
Department of Defense is blocking online access to news reports about
classified National Security Agency documents made public by Edward
Snowden. The blackout affects all of the department's computers and is
part of a department-wide directive.
"Any
website that runs information that the Department of Defense still
considers classified" is affected, Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Damien
Pickart told U.S. News in a phone interview.
According to Pickart, news websites that re-report information first published by The Guardian or other primary sources are also affected.
The US army has restricted access to the Guardian website over its revelations of the NSA's snooping activities. The British daily has been breaking the news from Edward Snowden, shedding light on a number of secret documents. RT's Sara Firth talks to Rodney Shakespeare from Global Justice Movement about this issue.
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US Army restricts access to Guardian website over secrets in NSA leak stories
Published time: June 28, 2013 06:39
Edited time: June 28, 2013 19:46
The US Army confirmed on Thursday that access to The Guardian newspaper’s website has been filtered and restricted for its personnel. The policy is due to classified documents described in detail in the stories.
Gordon Van Vleet, spokesman for the Army Network Enterprise Technology Command, or NETCOM, said in an email to the Monterey Herald that the Army is filtering "some access to press coverage and online content about the NSA leaks."
The spokesman said the procedure was routine part of "network hygiene" measures to prevent unauthorized disclosures of sensitive information.
"We make every effort to balance the need to preserve information access with operational security," he wrote, "however there are strict policies and directives in place regarding protecting and handling classified information."“Until declassified by appropriate officials, classified information - including material released through an unauthorized disclosure - must be treated accordingly by DoD personnel," Van Vleet explained.
In a later phone conversation he clarified that the filtering was “Armywide” rather than restricted to some US Army facilities.
Van Vleet said NETCOM, which is part of the Army Cyber Command, does not determine what sites its personnel can have access to, but "relies on automated filters that restrict access based on content concerns or malware threats."
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US army blocks access to Guardian website to preserve 'network hygiene'
Military admits to filtering reports and content relating to government surveillance programs for thousands of personnel
The Pentagon insisted the Department of Defense was only seeking to restrict access to certain content. Photograph: Rick Wilking/Reuters
The US army has admitted to blocking access to parts of the Guardian website for thousands of defence personnel across the country.
A spokesman said the military was filtering out reports and content relating to government surveillance programs to preserve "network hygiene" and prevent any classified material appearing on unclassified parts of its computer systems.
The confirmation follows reports in the Monterey Herald that staff at the Presidio military base south of San Francisco had complained of not being able to access the Guardian's UK site at all, and had only partial access to the US site, following publication of leaks from whistleblower Edward Snowden.
The Pentagon insisted the Department of Defense was not seeking to block the whole website, merely taking steps to restrict access to certain content.
But a spokesman for the Army's Network Enterprise Technology Command (Netcom) in Arizona confirmed that this was a widespread policy, likely to be affecting hundreds of defence facilities.
"In response to your question about access to the guardian.co.uk website, the army is filtering some access to press coverage and online content about the NSA leaks," said Gordon Van Vleet, a Netcom public affairs officer.
"The Department of Defense routinely takes preventative 'network hygiene' measures to mitigate unauthorized disclosures of classified information onto DoD unclassified networks."
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