This screen shot was sent by a reader, who titled the email “you have hit the big time.” I suppose I have, or at least I have really ticked off James Hansen and Gavin Schmidt at NASA. It appears that this site has been added to the list of sites blocked by the NASA servers as ostensiblybeing sexually explicit. Well, I guess we have caught the GISS with their pants down a few times….
As usual, you may click on the image for the full-size version. Thanks to a reader, who asked only that I hide his/her IP address.
Update: From the archives:
The top climate scientist at NASA says the Bush administration has tried to stop him from speaking out since he gave a lecture last month calling for prompt reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases linked to global warming.
The scientist, James E. Hansen, longtime director of the agency’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said in an interview that officials at NASA headquarters had ordered the public affairs staff to review his coming lectures, papers, postings on the Goddard Web site and requests for interviews from journalists.
Dr. Hansen said he would ignore the restrictions. “They feel their job is to be this censor of information going out to the public,” he said.
OK, I kindof mostly don’t think there is anything sinister here. Coyote’s Law tells us that this is much more likely to be incompetence rather than evil intent. But it would be interesting to see how Dr. Hansen would react if, say, the RealClimate site had been similarly filtered. Anyone want to bet he would have thrown a conspiracy-laden hissy fit?
Update #2: Thanks for all those who pointed out that http://climate-skeptic.com was going to a park page with a bunch of ads. That is fixed now. Not sure if that was the cause or not.
Come on, don’t play dumb: we all know about the Climate Sex-tic blog !
What a fraud! This is just a bunch of stuff about climate. Where are the girls?
See also: Hanlon’s Razor
RH:
Keep looking. You really think Coyote hosts high-res videos just so we can see the small type on his graphs and charts?
A promoter of hot air banning access from hot sites, that’s offending !
Of course, there is a middle ground. Andrew Ferguson loves to say about media bias allegations – “it’s not a conspiracy, it’s a consensus!” But as Evan Thomas admits, the national press really does want Democrats to win. Do some journalists deliberately slant the news? Yes. We have the evidence. Are a lot of journalists simply stupid sheep, unaware of how biased their coverage actually is? Sure. So, corrupt, stupid, or both corrupt and stupid pretty much covers them all.
Given what we know of Gavin and company, either or both would be understandable.
This is rich.
Hopefully this is purely unintentional and you will be able to get your site off the blacklist with a short email to the appropriate contact at NASA. However, if this was deliberate, it is a pathetic and juvenile attempt to circle the wagons and control the flow of information.
Keep up the good work.
Do you suppose all the off-color and obscene insults in the comments section have anything to do with that rating? Perhaps you’ve been deliberately targeted or perhaps the out-of-control, profanity-laden flaming insults from a few individuals has pushed your site beyond a specific threshold level?
I have had exactly the same problem trying to access your site from work – blocked due to ‘Adult/Sexually Explicit Content’. I am at home now and have no problem. Before yesterday (24th) it worked ok, so something on the site must have changed to trigger my employer’s web filter? I have had the problem before on completely innocent sites, it usually disappears as mysteriously as it appears.
Nothing sinister here I think – we must use the same useless software as NASA. By the way, another category that my employer’s web filter blocks is ‘weapons/violence’; it never stops me looking at warfare or military aircraft sites!
I have had exactly the same problem trying to access your site from work – blocked due to ‘Adult/Sexually Explicit Content’. I am at home now and have no problem. Before yesterday (24th) it worked ok, so something on the site must have changed to trigger my employer’s web filter? I have had the problem before on completely innocent sites, it usually disappears as mysteriously as it appears.
Nothing sinister here I think – we must use the same useless software as NASA. By the way, another category that my employer’s web filter blocks is ‘weapons/violence’; it never stops me looking at warfare or military aircraft sites!
Also blocked from within Boeing, from 2 days ago.
At JSC the blocking started about 2 or 3 days ago. Before then I had no trouble accessing the site. I suspect someone complained to the blacklist keeper – for JSC it used to be Websense, I don’t know if it still is – or the blacklist keeper made an error.
A friend sent me a screen capture of your site blockage from his work place (an engineering company) — it didn’t give a reason — only that it was blocked.
You have been added to Websense’s ‘Sex’ category. From work I get
The Websense category “Sex” is filtered.
http://www.climate-skeptic.com/
If you contact them you should be able to get this changed.
You have been added to Websense’s ‘Sex’ category. From work I get
The Websense category “Sex” is filtered.
http://www.climate-skeptic.com/
If you contact them you should be able to get this changed.
You are unblocked! Obviously your sexual content wasn’t settled science!
OK, I visit your site regularly, but I’ve never found the link to the babes. Where is it?
Your site is also blocked from my office in the Pentagon.
I hope Websense will correct this. Thanks for your great work!
At my workplace it is blocked.At home I can see it.
This is the direct result of no moderating action going on.
NASA is not specifically going after your website.It is simply an action that quickly propagates through the web.That your site has allowed vulgarized comments to be posted.
Therefore it is now being systematically blocked in PUBLIC places.
They can still be viewed at home.
Sunsettommy…”That your site has allowed vulgarized comments to be posted.”
This is an uninformed statement. DailyKos is not blocked by the Pentagon and there is no more vulgar site on the web.
The Pentagon does not have a James Hansen look a like as the “BOSS”.
???
This is a message from a content filtering appliance, which one I don’t know, that maintains lists of web sites in different categories. Apparently they have classed yours in the sexually explicit category. It happens from time to time. I think NASA uses Websense (I did a survey when selecting one for my Agency, I fond most Gov agencies use WebSence), commercial COTS, and URLs in the categories are not controlled by NASA. It is capable of letting them blacklist your site, but the reason for the block would be different. You would have to get in touch with the content filtering manufacurer if you want to have your category corrected. When I first implementsd a content filter it was blocking a website that had pictures of the Vermont Fall because the site was titled ‘Nude Vermont Landscapes’. It isn’t personal