[mpyne]

The soldiers have zero right to use the Internet at all on work hours.

The government could as easily have said "just focus on .mil and .gov sites when you're using government computers for government work".

The military already frequently bans stuff like YouTube when dipshits keep clogging up the network watching Bieber while other people are trying to do work, or things like Reddit.

[unknsldr]

> The government could as easily have said "just focus on .mil and .gov sites when you're using government computers for government work".

This is a great point. They could have given guidance on avoiding exposure to the leaked documents. Instead, they criminalized the consumption of publicly available information. Keep in mind that a soldier does not keep 'work hours'. They are not off-duty at any point. They are subject to UCMJ, as well as uniform and appearance regulations, even on the weekends. This includes using a personal computer to access the Guardian on the weekend from a Starbucks.

[kbenson]

I think the point, made earlier in this thread, is that the access of that information was already criminalized, from before it was released (due to it's classified nature), and that releasing it does not automatically unclassify it.

In that light, the blocking of the Guardian may be viewed as preventing soldiers from accidentally performing a criminal act.