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Friday, August 26, 2005
CHINFO/FHTNC/USAFNS Debacle - #2 - The First Unreasonable Request by CHINFO
In my first installment, I left off where I had become a member of the Navy League of the United States Information and Technology (IT) Committee. Through that group of IT savvy individuals, I soon had requests from three NLUS councils. One each in Washington State, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina. I complied with the requests, and asked the Fleet Home Town News Center (FHTNC) Media Liaison to start sending me releases for the three additional states. I researched and compiled a list all of the ZIP codes for those states. I forwarded the list, and shortly, I started receiving the releases for those states. Fantastic, I started to get emails from proud parents, parents requesting corrections, etc. The three NLUS councils were satisfied with the results, and added links to USAFNS.com from their websites. There was genuine excitement generated within the IT group, and within some NLUS staffers. As a result of the success of the pilot project, I was asked to make a presentation to NLUS members at an annual meeting in Northern Virginia. The presentation was well received.
I went on to request FHTNC releases for all 50 states, and 9 US territories and possessions. The request was favorably received by FHTNC personnel,and in short order, I was posting all of the US Navy, US Marine Corps, and US Coast Guard releases. I contacted the Army and Air Force Hometown News Center in San Antonio, TX, and they commenced sending me all of their releases for the US Army and the US Air Force. Things were going great, the emails were pouring in, and there were very few complaints.
Then, in the Spring of 2003, I got an email from a Chief of Naval Information (CHINFO) staffer that identified himself as the "Webmaster of the Navy". He made a rather strange request. He stated that I was using the official US Navy seal and I was in violation of a US Navy instruction (read directive with a capital 'D'). A reference was provided, and I looked the instruction up on the internet, and sure enough, there was a prohibition against using it on any other thing except for Official US Navy websites and documents.
So, I then looked up another US Navy logo on a US Navy website, and copied it, resized it, and used it. It is still currently in use on about half of my WebPages. It is all blue, with a white background - look at a few pages and you should see it. I couldn't make this stuff up. I politely apologized, and stated that I certainly did not wish to infract a Navy instruction, and went on about developing USAFNS.com.
I didn't complain that there were literally thousands of websites using the seal, nor did I complain that thousands of manufacturers are producing flags, belt buckles, lighters, etc. All using a seal that was developed with our tax dollars. I was of the opinion (and still am) that of all of the things that the "Webmaster of the Navy" might constructively spend their time doing, this took the cake. And it wasn't worth the expenditure of any effort on my part to fight it. When one really stops and thinks about a mid-level manager within the Department of the Navy spending (read wasting) time on something of this sort, it is plainly ridiculous. Here the nation is at war with terrorists, and someone has the time to spend on such a trivial matter, and trying to enforce a Navy directive that is plainly un-enforceable. Plainly Ridiculous! Please note the capital "R."
I think that my being co-operative and not balking was a mistake. If I had it to do over again, I would balk, and tell the CHINFO staffer that I would remove the seal from USAFNS.com when I read in the papers that the US Navy was making a push to have "Unauthorized" reproductions of the US Navy seal stopped.
Then, I got a request to delete all of the US Navy FHTNC releases. And, I did it, willingly, for a good reason.
~G - More to come!
Comments:
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I'm with you, sir. What a honk'n bit of $%^&*. And the worst of it all is, you're likely downplaying reality... Well, in the mean time, I'm off to find the Navy seal and post it at my blog, Tidewater Musings. Oh, and I blogged about your situation today; perhaps my digs at CHINFO are too personal?
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