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DoD blocking access to YouTube, MySpace type sites
Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 3:00 pm
by alicia-w
Soldiers serving overseas will lose some of their online links to friends and loved ones back home under a Department of Defense policy that a high-ranking Army official said would take effect Monday.
The Defense Department will begin blocking access "worldwide" to YouTube, MySpace and 11 other popular Web sites on its computers and networks, according to a memo sent Friday by Gen. B.B. Bell, the U.S. Forces Korea commander.
The policy is being implemented to protect information and reduce drag on the department's networks, according to Bell.
"This recreational traffic impacts our official DoD network and bandwidth ability, while posing a significant operational security challenge," the memo said.
The armed services have long barred members of the military from sharing information that could jeopardize their missions or safety, whether electronically or by other means.
The new policy is different because it creates a blanket ban on several sites used by military personnel to exchange messages, pictures, video and audio with family and friends.
Members of the military can still access the sites on their own computers and networks, but Defense Department computers and networks are the only ones available to many soldiers and sailors in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Iraqi insurgents or their supporters have been posting videos on YouTube at least since last fall, and the Army recently began posting videos on YouTube showing soldiers defeating insurgents and befriending Iraqis.
But the new rules mean many military personnel won't be able to watch those videos — at least not on military computers.
If the restrictions are intended to prevent soldiers from giving or receiving bad news, they could also prevent them from providing positive reports from the field, said Noah Shachtman, who runs a national security blog for Wired Magazine.
"This is as much an information war as it is bombs and bullets," he said. "And they are muzzling their best voices."
The sites covered by the ban are the video-sharing sites YouTube, Metacafe, IFilm, StupidVideos and FileCabi; social networking sites MySpace, BlackPlanet and Hi5; music sites Pandora, MTV, 1.fm and live365; and the photo-sharing site Photobucket.
Several companies have instituted similar bans, saying recreational sites drain productivity.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18659901/
Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 3:10 pm
by TexasStooge
A lot of today's policies are sinking to a new low.
Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 3:25 pm
by brunota2003
So, freedom of speach no longer exists...at least on gov't computers...
Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 3:30 pm
by alicia-w
LOL, it never has!
Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 3:43 pm
by brunota2003
alicia-w wrote:LOL, it never has!
I know...the schools do the same exact thing...But that does hit an emotional nerve, as my dad was in Kuwait back in 2005 and 2006. While he had his own laptop, the gov't internet was all they had, the only real way we could communicate with him was via internet. We could call each other on the phone, but the lag is bad and they charge an arm and a leg for it; so instead, we chatted through webcam and IM...if he was over there right now, chances are, we wouldnt be able to talk to him...just to think all these people put their lives in harms way every day, and their families are what keep them alive, yet they cannot communicate with them...sad state of affairs it is
Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 4:04 pm
by angelwing
Also gmail, yahoo mail, yahoo groups, aol, comcast are all blocked as well as blogs, even some religious type pages.
Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 4:23 pm
by JonathanBelles
I can hear a supreme court case coming out of this.
Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 4:53 pm
by alicia-w
no jurisdiction over the DoD's information management policies on their computers and their networks.
Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 5:01 pm
by Aslkahuna
I doubt that-such banning of sites comes under the purview of Communications Security (COMSEC). Apparently innocuous information exchanged on such sites can be viewed by enemy intelligence and be used to put together a pretty accurate picture of dispositions of military units as well as the order of battle and planned combat operations. When I was in Korea and the Philippines we were aware that our phone calls and radio communications were monitored at all times and they can also be done so here in the US on all Military Installations. I went on an Exercise in Korea in 1977 that involved the deployment or US Military units in response to a simulated NorKor attack and one Marine unit from the States was sent back in disgrace before they could participate because the Air Force COMSEC team learned their whole operation from monitoring the Communications (as presumably so did the fleet of Russian Trawlers and KorKor fishing boats off the coast).
When you sign up to join the Military, you agree to the subversion of some of your rights including the one to free speech.
Steve
Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 8:29 pm
by pojo
Every Base I've been on, sites such as MySpace, YouTube, etc have been banned... its nothing new for me.
Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 9:08 pm
by tomboudreau
These type of sites are all blocked at work. How is this considered a violation of ones civil rights? Obviously, if one posts on these types of sites, can post anything they want, including operation plans, etc.
Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 7:10 am
by TexasStooge
angelwing wrote:Also gmail, yahoo mail, yahoo groups, aol, comcast are all blocked as well as blogs, even some religious type pages.
Why don't they just block internet altogether and get it over with?
Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 8:02 am
by alicia-w
ssssshhhhhh
Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 11:52 am
by H733Driver
Personally, I don't see what the big deal is...and this isn't just DoD policy, Coast Guard (DHS) has the same policy...None of us are allowed access to these types of sites if you're using a CG STANDARD WORKSTATION...
Most commands are pretty good about buying a seperate stand-alone computer, seperate T1 line and writing it off as a morale item...But these types of sites kill the allotted bandwidth we have, and most of our computers apps are affected.
How would you feel if I couldn't lay down a search pattern (computer-based SAR application) for a search and rescue case because my computer was hosed...and it was your family member that was out there? ...kinda puts that in a new perspective, huh?
Then again, maybe it because we're just too busy to actually have that much time to kill, unlike our DoD compadres...
Bottom line, DoD and CG workstations are just that...WORKstations...
Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 11:59 am
by gtalum
fact789 wrote:I can hear a supreme court case coming out of this.
There's no constitutional violation here for them to discuss, so they wouldn't take the case, even if they had jurisdiction over the DoD. No organization, including the US government, has the obligation to provide the means or venue for speech.
Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 4:21 pm
by Aslkahuna
This is just another Tempest in a Teapot as the ban applies to only OFFICIAL FOUO computers. It does not prohibit the accessing of such sites on the MWR computers that are available or on personal computers hooked up to the MWR access. MWR stands for Morale, Welfare and Recreation I might add. FOUO means For Official Use Only and the prohibition merely says that GI Joe and GI Jane can NOT use the work computer for personal access since it uses up too much bandwidth for which the Government is paying for. As far as being a free speech issue, thjis falls into the same category as the management of a Company banning personal use on their Company computers-it doesn't exist. So everybody can get their panties unwadded. Should be noted that in the past it was a prohibition on personal use of Official Phone lines (usually each office had a public access line that could be used for that purpose) so this is far from anything new.
Steve
Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 5:56 pm
by H733Driver
Aslkahuna wrote:It does not prohibit the accessing of such sites on the MWR computers that are available or on personal computers hooked up to the MWR access. MWR stands for Morale, Welfare and Recreation I might add.
Steve
Hit the nail right on the head...
Like I said in my earlier post above, most CG commands are pretty good about buying extra stand-alones just for this purpose... I also find it hard to believe that the DoD services would be that ignorant of their respective members' morale also...especially those forward deployed!!