Travel

Wi-Fi provider not allowing access

Published: 11/22/2015 at 5:03 PM

One subcontractor providing Wi-Fi service to a small percentage of United Airlines flights has incorrectly categorized the WND.com news site as a source for downloads, and is blocking readers access to it on those jets.

But United Airlines said it has asked Thales Wi-Fi to correct the error and make WND accessible on all flights.

It s just the latest instance in which readers were kept from WND, either by error or agenda.

Passengers on certain United flights for at least a year have noted the airline s comment that WND is blocked.

United officials confirmed this week they have asked the Wi-Fi provider, Thales, to correct that.

Thales, based overseas, did not respond to a WND request for comment.

But United s Karen May told WND, We are addressing the issue. We have submitted a request to have the block removed on affected aircraft.

She explained, This is a technology issue. One of our Wi-Fi providers relies on a third-party service to categorize websites. It appears that service has labeled WND.com as streaming and downloadable video, thus blocking the site.

It was in 2013 when Barack Obama s Department of Defense blocked WND on a number of bases.

The exact number of bases wasn t known, but reports had come from Tinker Air Force Base, Kirtland Air Force Base, Hanscom Air Force Base, Hill Air Force Base and several others.

WND reported at the time that the decision to block WND was reversed after a security issue was resolved.

WND reported that the Navy confirmed it was blocking users from access to the news site. At that time, Capt. Teresa Ovalle, from the Navy operations at Quantico, Virginia, where the Navy Marine Corps Intranet is managed, explained that it was an issue of security on the servers providing readers access to WND. The issues ultimately were resolved.

Also, back in 2007 WND was being blocked from Navy and Marine Corps bases worldwide. It took months of investigating before the block eventually was lifted.

WND readers have told the news site that problems with the website being blocked on military bases date back a decade.

When I reported for duty in October 2003, I was not able to access WND s site, one reader wrote earlier, saying he d even asked about the problem but never received a satisfactory answer.

The McAfee Internet security corporation at one point listed WND as blogs/wiki and controversial opinion in a database of website URLs, triggering a number of systems to deny users access to the site.

In another case, a Web Guard option offered by T-Mobile on its cellular telephone service disconnected access for some readers to WND, mistakenly classifying it as adult material.

Another case arose in Minnesota when a reader told of getting a response of inappropriate when he tried to access WND through the Wi-Fi services at a Dunn Bros. coffee shop.

The coffee shop was using software from DansGuardian.org. Other problems were raised by WND readers over the work of one of the larger filtering companies, ContentWatch.com, which has a product called Net Nanny that has been cited by readers several times for incorrectly blocking WND for having hate and violence.

WND also has experienced deliberate discrimination. Several years ago, PRWeb. which distributes press releases from businesses, politicians, bloggers, activists and just about everyone, drew the line at sending out a paid report from the Beat Obama Committee that cited information from WND. PRWeb considered WND not credible and a biased source of news.

After days of delay and negotiations with PRWeb management, BOPAC reworked its press release, citing other news agencies, and the release was accepted.