Defense Department Says: “No MySpace for YOU!”
This post was published 2 years 8 months 28 days ago which may make its actuality or expire date not be valid anymore. This site is not responsible for any misunderstanding.Today the Defense Department blocked the websites YouTube, Metacafe, IFilm, StupidVideos and FileCabi, MySpace, BlackPlanet and Hi5, Pandora, MTV, 1.fm, live365, and Photobucket from all military owned networks citing security and technical concerns.
“The U.S. Army’s not going to pay the bill for you to get on MySpace and YouTube,” said Maj. Bruce Mumford, of Chester, Nebraska, who is serving as the brigade communications officer for the 4th Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, in Iraq. [...]
As blogs and video-sharing become more common, the military has voiced increasing concern about service members revealing details about military operations or other information about equipment or procedures that will aid the enemy.
At the same time, service members have used the Web sites to chronicle their time in battle, posting videos and writing journals that provide a powerful, personal glimpse into their days at war.
Having a background in IT, I can understand the bandwidth concerns – but I am a firm believer that the troops deserve unfettered access to the internet preserving their rights to free speech that they are so bravely protecting.
What, you still believe in free speech?
Um, do you still believe in censorware? It’s obviously just a political move because anybody with half a brain and some dedication can find a dozen ways around any filter, no matter how robust it is. I mean, the US even has stuff up for people behind the Great Firewall of China to get unfettered internet access. Any highschooler could tell you how futile it is to try and block websites.
Thats ridiculous. I’m not the biggest fan of myspace myself but I still believe thats its a great way to keep in touch because of its simplicity. And for troops fighting in the war and may have limited internet access, it’s probably one of the easiest ways to stay in touch with ones family. I can’t imagine that the US Govt is really that concerned about bandwidth issues. That seems like an excuse and one of the last things they should be worried about.
When I was there almost everyone used MySpace to keep in touch with family and friends.
But, the networks were so incredibly slow that it could literally take 5 minutes to load the MySpace homepage. All the networks are satellite based, and personal use of the internet did put a huge strain on the system. While it is an inconvenience I think soldiers know what’s really important and it’s the people outside the military who are really up in arms about this.
Our military operations over there rely on a secure, functioning network. Sacrifices have to be made sometimes.
Not at all surprising to see this considering just recently, the military warned troops to refrain from posting images / videos from combat zones directly to sharing sites.
That’s true Derek. There’s pretty strict rules about where it’s acceptable to take a picture at all when you’re on a forward deployed base. Surfing around MySpace alone I saw all kinds of pictures that were waaay outside the boundaries of those rules. I even saw one guy who had a picture of a computer screen with the AF’s little red TOP SECRET banner at the top of the screen. Dumb.