Big Brother Rules the Space Shuttle, Too

Perhaps we can understand the reason for communications hygiene on the ISS and space shuttles:

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Aug. 26, 2008 - ABC News.com - Virus Infects Space Station Laptops (Again) - Viruses intended to steal passwords and send them to a remote server infected laptops in the Space Station in July, NASA confirmed Tuesday.

The International Space Station has no direct internet access, but astronauts can send and receive mail though a KU band data link also used for data and video transfer, according to Humphries. That means the space station laptops are not connected to the net, according to Humphries. "Everything is scanned before it goes up, so it's an indirect connection," Humphries said.

3 days ago - HOUSTON (AP) — Fixing Hubble: No sweat; Watching a movie: No way -With an unwanted off day Friday because thunderstorms prevented their scheduled landing, the astronauts intended to pass the time by watching movies they brought on the mission. But when they tried to play them, they found out that their laptops didn't have the proper software. ... After more than an hour with no solution, the astronauts gave up.

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But what about the reference to Big Brother? This photo and text below should explain Big Brother's restrictions:

In reality, Mike Massimino (Ph.D) e-mails his Twitter updates to Houston where a NASA employee posts them to his Twitter profile. Ordinary Twitter users can post via e-mail, but have to reveal passwords to a third party. NASA prohibits astronauts from directly accessing the Internet.

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If astronauts had a Blackberry like President Obama's, however ... well, lets just say it is a good thing they and most submariners don't!

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Submarines are always silent and strange.