Appeals Court Lets Interior Computers Back Online, Despite Judge's Security Concerns By Robert Gehrke Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - The Interior Department will go back online after an appeals court Wednesday blocked a judge's ruling that ordered most of the department's computers disconnected from the Internet. It took the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit just three hours to grant the government's request to restore the Interior's Internet access. It had been shut down since March 15 to protect money owed to American Indians from computer hackers. The shutdown disrupted public's access to Interior Department Web pages, land managers' communications, disbursement of mineral royalties to states, and education of children in Bureau of Indian Affairs schools. Interior Secretary Gale Norton said she was pleased with the appeals court decision and will continue pushing for a permanent reversal of the Internet shutdown. "Meanwhile, tonight we have begun to restore our Internet connections across all impacted agencies of the department and will work quickly to restore them to pre-March 15 levels," she said. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ordered the shutdown after the Interior Department failed to show it had fixed security problems that left vulnerable to Internet security breaches millions of dollars in royalties from oil, gas, timber and grazing activities on American Indian lands. <snip> http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGA1RPI38SD.html