NPR: Pentagon Drops YouTube, MySpace from Its Networks

Pentagon Drops YouTube, MySpace from Its Networks

The Department of Defense has decided to ban several popular social networking and video-sharing sites, including YouTube and MySpace, from its computers around the world. In a memo, General B.B. Bell named the two above sites and 11 others as being blocked by the Pentagon starting today.

The military says it is concerned that personal use of the sites on its computers is stealing bandwidth and hampering operations. The move means that military personnel overseas will lose key contact points with their families and friends back in the U.S. Soldiers may still access these sites via private ISPs, but that may be a little difficult to do in war zones, of course.

The British site The Register writes that closing down these access points to the Internet could actually do the Pentagon more harm than good.

Nonetheless, many analysts have seen this as at best a foolish gag on some of the most [pro-US] positive reporters from the Southwest Asian frontlines. Military bloggers and uploaders overall tend to be quite on-message from the DoD point of view, and now this support for the cause will be largely stifled. Others, of course, interpret the blocks as a straightforward case of censorship.

This move has, of course, drawn lots of attention in the blogosphere. Aaron Freeman and Sharon Rosenzweig at Incisity point out that U.S. troops in Iraq are supposed to be fighting for, "in addition to oil," freedom. That apparently doesn't count now, they say, adding that the bad guys will still have full Web access. That point is jumped on by The Jawa Report, which suggests that by not blocking videos made by jihadis, YouTube and its parent Google are "willfully providing aid and comfort to America's enemies."

3:46 PM ET | 05-14-2007 | permalink

Comments

The Pentagon would rather keep them stupid and have them all do something useless in their free time, such as get drunk and wasted, as soldiers did in the good old days.

Sent by Helen Wheels | 8:59 PM ET | 05-14-2007

Many companies block access to these sites as part of thier corporate firewall policies and there is no problem. The Army does is and now it is suddenly a big issue and "limiting freedom". Yeah right. Just means they are controlling bandwith and limiting the chance for people to waste "company time".

Sent by Joe Blogg | 2:24 AM ET | 05-15-2007

What? Companies block these sites so that people working at DESK JOBS don't waste time playing solitare, and going on facebook. Solders don't have the "luxury" of sitting around all day, and wasting time. They get like 5 minutes a day to go online, and they are going to use that time, so how can you be blocking sites that would have them connect to their friends and peers from back home? Absolutly ridiculous.

Sent by Guthrie | 10:40 AM ET | 05-16-2007

A few bad seeds alway ruin it for the entire group. It is true that many use this as a means to communicate with their friends and family back home. It is a sad thing this privilege is taken away for the many who abuse it. There are substantial cases where military personnel are revealing details about military operations or other information about equipment or procedures that will aid the enemy. Not only does the military have this worry about, there are cases where soldiers chose not use their best discretion in posting video of innocent civilian being harmed or killed. In a story posted in the AP yesterday, a Lt. who frequently uses social networking sites to communicate with family even stated this himself. "I guess it's a good general policy," Zimmerman said about the ban on MySpace and YouTube." If people could be trusted not to break operational security, then they wouldn't need to have the policy." As much as I would like to blame the gov't for supressing yet another one of our rights, you have to look at the overall argument on this one unfortunately.

Sent by Anonymous | 12:43 PM ET | 05-16-2007

Since May 17 2007, I have not had an email or a phone call from my guy who is a contractor in a remote area in Afghanistan. No phone calls either. I have been able to talk on phone for 15 mo. and now nothing. What is going on? Feeling very worried.

Sent by Teresa | 4:46 PM ET | 09-23-2007

Well, Teresa, for one thing, the opium production in Afghanistan is at a record high for global production. You can verify this fact on the DEA's own web site.

Before 9-11 and the Iraq invasion, the Taliban had curtailed opium growing on moral grounds. Since the Iraq invasion, the Taliban has allowed the farmers to grow poppy again. To purchase more arms on the black market.

So, if your guy who is a contractor in Afghanistan, there's always the security danger he is seeing large shipments of poppy leaving the country. And whoever has their finger on the email and phone off-button doesn't want contractors spreading the word.

The Soviet Union spent ten years invading Afghanistan, and went broke for the effort. Things could be getting politically out of hand in that region. It's a form of military and political censorship.

fred call

Sent by fred call | 8:32 AM ET | 09-24-2007

It's another implementation of their New World Order agenda which cannot be stopped, only warned about. They know Wormwood is coming and they've built Deep Underground Military Bases for it with their Prison Transfer Cars for some of 'us' - and if this doesn't get posted - I'll know it's because I'm right.

Sent by Shelley Evans | 1:53 AM ET | 01-26-2008

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