function hide_user_promo_bubble_second_stage() { var bubble = $("user_promo_bubble"); bubble.style.display = "none"; } function hide_user_promo_bubble() { var bubble = $("user_promo_bubble"); var myAnim = new YAHOO.util.Anim(bubble, { opacity: { to: 0 } }, 1, YAHOO.util.Easing.easeOut); myAnim.animate(); setTimeout("hide_user_promo_bubble_second_stage()", 1100); } function handle_promo_username(params) { var bubble = $("user_promo_bubble"); var img = $("user_promo_bubble_image"); var anchor = $("user_promo_bubble_link"); if (params.has_photo == "true") { img.src = "http://images.huffingtonpost.com/profiles/" + params.user_id + "-tiny.png"; } else { img.style.display = "none"; Dom.addClass(anchor, "wide"); } anchor.innerHTML = "Shared by " + params.user_name; anchor.href = "http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/" + params.user_name; bubble.style.display = "block"; var myAnim = new YAHOO.util.Anim(bubble, { opacity: { to: 1 } }, 2, YAHOO.util.Easing.easeOut); myAnim.animate(); } if (HuffPoUtil.getUrlVar("user_promo")) { YAHOO.util.Event.onDOMReady(function() { var parts = document.location.hash.split(","), shared_by = "", badge = "", i; if (parts.length < 2) return; for (i = 0; i < parts.length; i++) { if (parts[i].indexOf("sb=") !== -1) { shared_by = parts[i]; } if (parts[i].indexOf("b=") !== -1) { badge = parts[i]; } } if (shared_by == "" || badge == "") return; var bubble = $("user_promo_bubble"); if (!bubble) return; var entry_id = HuffPoUtil.GetEntryID(); if (!entry_id) return; var user_id = parseInt(shared_by.substr(shared_by.indexOf("sb=") + 3)); if (!user_id) return; var badge_type = badge.substr(badge.indexOf("b=") + 2); if (!badge_type) return; script = document.createElement("script"); script.setAttribute("type", "text/javascript"); bubble.appendChild(script); script.setAttribute("src", "/include/share_track.php?a=view&eid=" + entry_id + "&uid=" + user_id + "&b=" + badge_type + "&cb=handle_promo_username"); }); } Drudge Report Embargo: Congress Urges Staffers Not To View Website, Says Could Spread Viruses

A Senate committee has taken steps to black list the Drudge Report on Capitol Hill computers over concerns that the site may be "responsible for the many viruses popping up" recently.

Late Monday night, the Senate's Committee on Environment and Public Works sent out a letter urging employees to steer clear of the highly-trafficked news aggregating Web site as well as whitepages.org after a wave of virus attacks.

"Please avoid using these sites until the Senate resolves this issue," a committee e-mail read. "The Senate has been swamped the last couples (sic) days with this issue."

A spokesperson for the committee confirmed the recommendation.

"The Senate Help Desk, in discussing a recent increase in the number of virus infections in Senate computers, mentioned that it might be associated with pop-up ads appearing through certain websites, and they cited DrudgeReport.com and WhitePages.com as possible examples," the spokesperson, who wished to remain anonymous, said in an email statement. "Our non-partisan systems administrator notified both Majority and Minority staff that this issue had been brought to her attention. It is still not exactly clear where the increase in viruses is coming from, and staff have been advised to be cautious with outside Web sites at all times."

The Drudge Report was quick to fire back, accusing the Senate of a politically motivated embargo and denying claims that their site was spreading viruses.

"Just as the healthcare drama in the capitol reaches a grand finale, congressional officials are warning employees to avoid the DRUDGE REPORT!" according to a statement posted on the Drudge Report. "On Monday DRUDGE served over 29 million pages with NOT ONE email complaint received about 'pop ups', or the site serving 'viruses'...The Systems Administrator may want to continue taking her antibiotic until the prescription runs out."

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According to a screenshot and letter provided to CNET by a reader, however, some sort of virus warning was indeed triggered by a visit to the Drudge Report.

"The screenshot the reader provided to CNET shows a pop-up warning the viewer that the system is infected with malware and looks like a typical fake antivirus warning that criminals use to scare people into paying for software they don't need," the CNET article said.

The blame might not fall directly on the Drudge Report, CNET reported, but instead on one of their third party advertisers. "Many Web sites outsource the serving of their ads and ad networks have been used to deliver malware to sites since last year, affecting sites as prominent as The New York Times."

Know something we don't? E-mail us at [e-mail]

Comments

[Disdain]

If our government can't get around a simple virus, how are they supposed to safeguard a national biometric identification card for all working American?

[GoonieGooGoo]

The stats don't lie: Seems that many of Drudge visitors come from senate.gov, house.gov and other .govs.

Do the math: 18,750 times a day, Senators and their staffers visit the Drudge Report--187.5 times a day for each Senator; 30,543 times a day Congressmen and their staffers check in on Drudge--70 times a day for each Congressional office; and, most comical of all, 1,353 times a day President Obama's White House staffers log on to the Report.

The war is over. Drudge won it.
Freedom of speech and freedom of the press. At last.

[SvrWx]

At my command, we are not allowed to visit Drudge or Huffpo because of the chance of Viruses being spread. We actually have a list of what websites we are not allowed to visit.

[blimie]

Censorship is bad not good.

[progressivegreg]

DruDge, I thought she said drugs!

[imusintheevening]

"nevermind" - emily latilla

[Ifticar2]

Sen. Inhofe: Basis for Senate's Ban on Drudge Report Was Bogus, We Encourage People to Visit Drudge

Sen. Inhofe said it did not surprise him that someone on the left was trying to stop Senate staff from reading Drudge “because Drudge comes out with really good stuff and we want them to access the Drudge Report. We’re on the Drudge Report about half the time.”

“Every time there is something really noticeable and that somebody needs to cover, Drudge is right there,” said Inhofe. “I suspect somebody was trying to make it look as if there’s a virus there to discourage people from using Drudge. Then, somehow, I guess someone in the Capitol got a hold of it and said, yes, we are advising you not to use it.

“Just today, they backed down, so I think that maybe we were right all the time and that there’s not a problem, and we would encourage people to continue to use Drudge,” he said. “That’s a great source.”

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/62538

[thaneb]

"somebody was trying to make it look as if there’s a virus there to discourage people from using Drudge" Sound like, "the paranoids are out to get me."

[GoldsteinD]

Censorship - the last refuge of the desperate. Next: What books should we burn?

[thaneb]

"some sort of virus warning was indeed triggered by a visit to the Drudge Report"
Didn't read that far?

[GoldsteinD]

bogus. whoever thought they caught Drudge doing something with malware was probably surfing porn where that kind of stuff happens

[Jayk4444]

Are you concerned that the US Government does not have sufficient system procedures to block viruses, spyware, malware, or other issues with government employees surfing the net?

[GlenRast]

Choice for true factual information...Drudge or one of the squirrels running around the back yard. Sorry Drudge the furry rodent wins.

[Political Conservative]

Remember that Rahm Emanuel called many of the liberal readers of this site F**king Ret*rds. It may be the Drudge Report today but it may be this site tomorrow....

[thaneb]

Unless they are scrupuous in scanning third party ads and can detect the latest beastie, that could well happen. But that doesn't necessarily suggest anything political.

[lthuedk 1]

Drudge IS a virus. Expect the symptoms.

[mcmutter]

I always thought Drudge woukd spread a varieety of nasty STDs .....

[letssee]

I read the Drudge report all the time, never once a virus.. but the the government cant run its computer systems (they actually use the term Blacklist) wow can you imagine what they do with Health Care.

[PathofTotality]

I am and average guy with an average income and on my computer at home I use a free (therefore not as many bells and whistles as a paid subscription) anti-virus, anti-spyware software (CNET has plenty to pick from). Now I do not care for the Drudge Report but we do use the internet a lot at home and so far, said free software does pretty good about stopping and/or deleting the garbage. How can the US Government, with more resources than me have this issue? I would think that they have the best stuff on earth to block or stop these problems.

[letssee]

Wait till they show us what they can do with Health Care...

[mcmutter]

they're too busy funding 1000 military bases aropund the world ..... a good start would be to privtize the four luxury golf courses the military operates yet classifies as bases ......

we gotta start somewhere ....

[mountaingal]

The smart thing to do would be to test the site to make sure it is free of viruses and have it attested to by an independent agency. Otherwise, it is like Toyota saying there is nothing wrong with their cars while Priuses play bumper cars with the CHP trying to slow them down. It is better to be proactive instead of finding out later that it was true and you look like an idiot.

[mrspiffy]

Matt Drudge IS a virus...the herpes of journalism.

http://yieldpig.blogspot.com/

[mcmutter]

fanned