May 14th, 2007
Pentagon bans MySpace, YouTube, MTV, etc. on DoD networks
Effective today, the U.S. Department of Defense has started blocking access over its Internet networks to You Tube, MySpace, BlackPlanet and Hi5; music sites Pandora, MTV, 1.fm and live365; and the photo-sharing site Photobucket.
DoD says this is being done for two reasons: to soften demand on its networks, and also to manage the flow of information from the field.
I call it censorship. You don't want soldiers posting videos that can be readily accessed by friends back home.
But I am sure that in terms of showing anything the enemy (mostly from a nation who sent no 9/11 hijackers, and from a group that attacked us on 9/11 but wasn't in Iraq until we got there), hasn't there already been a prohibition?
MySpace could also be a good recruiting tool for the Armed Services, but the DoD doesn't seem to get that. And what about PhotoBucket photos of smiling platoons.
Interesting, too, that the music sites banned are mostly rock and roll and urban. So does that mean that if soldiers accessed music sites for country music, or contemporary Christian, that'd be OK?
Russell Shaw is an enterprise computing journalist, analyst and author based in Portland, Oregon. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
