Citing operational security and bandwidth usage concerns, the Department of Defense said Monday that access to 13 popular file and video sharing and social networking Web sites would be blocked from all DoD computers worldwide.
“The Commander of DoD’s Joint Task Force, Global Network Operations (JTF-GNO) has noted a significant increase in use of DoD network resources tied up by individuals visiting certain recreational Internet sites,” reads a memo (PDF) describing the change and signed by Gen. B. B. Bell, Commander, United Nations Command. “This recreational traffic impacts our official DoD network and bandwidth availability, while posing a significant operational security challenge.”
The 13 sites being blocked are listed as youtube.com, 1.fm, pandora.com, photobucket.com, myspace.com, live365.com, hi5.com, metacafe.com, mtv.com, ifilm.com, blackplanet.com, stupidvideos.com and filecabi.com. All of them typically consume high amounts of bandwidth.
(But someone apparently forgot to tell them that the site’s official name is filecabi.net.)
But the memo also makes clear, without using his name, that Lt. Gen. Charles Croom, who serves both as the head of the Defense Information Systems Agency and as commander of Joint Task Force-Global Network Operations, is behind the move. — Government Computer News
The memo points out that the block applies only to DoD computers and networks; servicemembers are free to access the sites from non-DoD computers such as at Internet cafes and through commercial Internet service providers. The block doesn’t specifically apply to Iraq and Afghanistan since many of these sites had already been blocked in those countries.
Even in Iraq there are a handful of privately owned Internet cafes available on bases for troops who don’t want to wait through often long lines to access Pentagon-provided computers or who want to communicate over private networks. All Defense Department networks can be monitored. — United Press International
On May 3, the Army issued new OPSEC regulations which appeared to sharply restrict blogging by Soldiers and their families, prompting a backlash from milbloggers. By May 5, the Army had issued a statement clarifying that it primarily wanted Soldiers to attend OPSEC guidance and awareness training prior to posting, and did not restrict activities of family members.
In addition to using Internet cafes and personal computers off the DoD networks, many servicemembers use proxy servers provided by individuals back in the States, such as Circumventor, to access blocked sites.
DoD has had little success in blocking access to proxy servers. During September and October 2006, Homeland Stupidity ran Circumventor proxy servers and discovered nearly all of the people using them were deployed servicemembers in Iraq and Afghanistan who were trying to access Myspace, Facebook and other blocked sites. Since the addresses of proxy servers change frequently, it’s difficult for network administrators to keep up.
Servicemembers who want to use Circumventor should sign up for the mailing list (Link may be blocked by DoD; try it from home or an Internet cafe) to have new proxy server addresses e-mailed to them as they become available.
Facebook
Digg
del.icio.us
reddit.com
Newsvine
Loading ...
12 Comments
I very much doubt that the true reasons for this is network bandwidth or security. The security threat from these sites is small compared to many other sites, and bandwidth costs are really small, at least compared to the cost in productivity.
I believe that they simple feel that too many people spend too much time on these sites rather than doing actual work.
You got that right. Nothing irks me more than seeing troops on “recreational” all day while official business piles up. All of these sites have been blocked by proxy filters for years anyway. It’s nothing new here in the military.
This policy is similar to that by corporations that block personal internet access use in their offices. The difference here is that deployed soldiers are on duty 24 hours a day. There is no time off, no home to return to and, in many cases, no personal computer access.
Limiting internet communication in any way is a huge morale breaker.
Read more about military life, including a discussion of this topic, at
well wat is this about like i dont kno w
I agree with all of you who have commented thus far, but it also worries me that a site like youtube is blocked because it’s the new ultimate vehicle for exercising freedom of speech, and like the secret service putting people with anti bush signs miles away from any route he is likely to actually use in these so called free speech zones, all it does is serve to isolate the people on the inside from reality, creating that bubble that congress and most “seasoned” politicians seem to exist in.
none
It’s micromanagement. That’s what our government does best. Except where our government is concerned that is.
It’s politically motivated censorship. The extremist neocon ideology now permeates every nook and cranny of the federal government. After 6 years, only the yes-men and yes-women are left in charge of the bureaucracy.
Q, start your own website, spend your own money to bash your President, you have the right for your free speach as long as you are not carrying a sign, shoving it in my face. Or maybe a gun instead of a sign. Its funny about all you individuals that love to make these bullshi—— statements about this the greatest government in the world. Yet you sit in little private cage, a blast anything about every thing that you no nothing about, or want to take the time to check the facts and actually do your own homework. If you did you might be surprised that all this crap you are being fed by these so called writers of news, are only writing what they have half way checked out, or what they want you to believe. Its all about convencing the public, on which crook, should be elected to congress or whatever!!!
The Dept. of War doesn’t want their people to see things that might tell them they’re working for traitors.
There’s too much truth out there, via the Internet–that’s why there’s a plan to shut it down.
^^^ “Street guy’ Your the typical Class A moron. Keep on drinking the Kool Aid, watching Fox News & eating the shit that they feed you. (They report… You decide. Its that simple in your case)If you don’t like whats on this web site then don’t log on to it. Its that simple…
The DoD doesn’t just block social networking websites and blogs, they block everything even remotely recreational. I am a software developer for the DoD and I can’t count the number of unproductive hours lost waiting for a site to be “unblocked” by the powers that be. Applying blanket-wide policies over the entire DoD seriously affects those who’s jobs require free and instant access to information.
Post a Comment