The Air Force just did a significant overhaul of its online policies for their computers.
They've tried to adapt to a world that's increasingly digital, socially connected and constantly online — by cracking down on most of those things.
Some of the Air Force's directives are obvious, others are bizarre, and some are understandable.
We combed through the 36-page directive to find the good parts.
You're going to want to see this.
Here's what the Air Force wants — and doesn't want — people to do using its internet connection:
- They would consider it inappropriate if you were participating in terrorist activities. The Air Force explicitly lists "terrorist activities" as inappropriate under section 3.2.3 of the policy.
- Gambling and pornography are on the same level of inappropriate-ness of terrorism. They're listed all together in that brief subsection.
- The Air Force isn't a fan of chain emails. They're of the opinion that emails with subject lines like "FW:FW:Fw:FW:Fw: Best joke" adversely reflect on the DoD. We can't help but agree.
- Also, please use "Reply-All" less. The Air Force asks that users cut down on Replying to All. It's bogging down their internet. For the record, it's also somewhat annoying and pretty risky if a sender isn't paying attention.
- The Air Force would really prefer if you only used the internet to talk to your family and look for jobs. The new policy says that authorized use is comprised of exchanging information with family members, enhancing the skills of employees, and searching for jobs. Also, they're okay with sending messages out to members of your Department of Defense (DoD) approved organization. That's it.
- The Air Force doesn't want you to download free software like Adobe Flash or Firefox unless you acquire pre-approval. How many calls do the Air Force system admins get requesting permission to install Skype? We'll never know.
- While you can subscribe to government-sponsored news, using non-DoD subscription news services is a "misuse of a government system." If you're in violation of this, it's already too late to close out of the browser window, because...
- The Air Force is monitoring your browsing already. Using any DoD device constitutes consent to monitoring, according to sections 2.7, 3.4, 4.3, and 6.1. Sorry.
Violations of any of these can result in stripping of internet access, revocation of security clearance, or other repercussions.
The full text of the policy overhaul can be found here.
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