IP Democracy: Pentagon to Soldiers: No More Social Networking

The news that the Pentagon is now blocking soldiers’ access to a number of popular social networking and video sites hit the wires yesterday but is front page news today. The Defense Department’s ban on access to MySpace, YouTube and eleven other sites applies to military computers only — soldiers can still access the prohibited sites through their own personal computers or designated Internet cafes.

Sites Blocked by U.S. Military

MySpace

YouTube

Photobucket

Metacafe

MTV

iFilm

Hi5

Pandora

Live365

BlackPlanet

1.FM

StupidVideos

Filecabi

But because few soliders bring laptops with them to war and Internet cafes are already overcrowded, the net effect of the ban is to sharply reduce the amount of communications from military personnel in the heart of combat, most specifically Iraq. Although the Pentagon claims the restrictions stem primarily from a fear that traffic to these popular sites threatens to overwhelm the military’s private Internet, they’re also concerned about the “the disclosure of combat-sensitive material.”

In all likelihood the Pentagon is also probably a little bit disturbed by the free-flowing complaints, criticisms and unauthorized combat videos that pop up on these sites because “these sites also offer an uncensored venue for airing homesickness, frustration with the war in Iraq and anger at the military.”

The Iraq war is the first large-scale military operation that has been widely documented through MySpace, YouTube and other sites and now, it seems, the window on the war has been, well, virtually slammed shut. Moreover, the soldiers have lost a key means of staying in touch with loved ones back home.

Although traffic congestion is an understandable concern, couldn’t the military have rationed the amount of access to these sites or, even better, beefed up its networking capacity to accomodate the soldiers’ needs?

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on May 15, 2007 9:12 AM to IP Democracy