Pentagon Bans YouTube, MySpace
Access Cut From Troops' Computers Because Of Bandwidth, Information Sharing Concerns
-
Photo
Sites like YouTube can link servicemembers overseas with their families and loved ones back home, by sharing video messages of support, news and friendship. But now the Pentagon is banning access to that and similar sites from the military's computers, to preserve bandwidth and protect sensitive information. (CBS)
-
Photo Essay
MySpace Is Your Space
Satisfy your voyeuristic urges and get a glimpse inside MySpace.
-
Blog
Technology Blog
Blog postings on the latest technology news, tips and tidbits.
-
Interactive
Military 101
Basic training to learn all about America's fighting force.
The Defense Department has announced it will begin blocking access on its computers and networks "worldwide" to YouTube, MySpace and 11 other popular Web sites, according to a memo sent Friday by Gen. B.B. Bell, the U.S. Forces Korea commander.
Soldiers serving overseas will therefore lose some of their online links to friends and loved ones back home. A high-ranking Army official said the ban would take effect Monday.
The military says it's worried that personal use on military computers is stealing bandwidth and perhaps hampering operations, reports CBS News correspondent Steve Kathan. They're also concerned that too much information may be getting out.
"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.
Some of the sites provide important family links for soldiers overseas. Soldiers may miss out on homemade tributes or in sharing their videos and pictures from the fronts.
The flip side of this battle, too, is that soldiers will not be able to see videos posted by insurgents.
Iraqi insurgents or their supporters have been posting videos on YouTube at least since last fall, and the Army recently began posting its own 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.
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.
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:
- 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
- Photo-sharing site Photobucket.
Several companies have instituted similar bans, saying recreational sites drain productivity.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.



- 1
- 2
- next
See all 66 CommentsBlatant and stupid as their Commander-in-Thief...
Let's take America back from the fascists.
Just because the Bush Administration lives in an information vacuum, at least from the reality of non- spun info, does not mean that our troops have to be in the same position.
Censorship is the Bush and Rebpublicon way.
The Pentagoons are doing what King Bu$h always wanted...
Cutting off troops' access to information will also cut troop morale.
Since the TRUTH is on the internet, fascists fear it.
Just because Bu$h can't use the internet, doesn't mean the rest of US shouldn't...
Those were just paper and ink - imagine what all is available about you and your family electronically.
Those were just paper and ink - imagine what all is available about you and your family electronically.
The Constitution's First Ammendment guarantees Free Speech.
In 1970 there might have been an arguement for bandwidth, but with current technology bandwidth is almost infinite. It can't possibly be an issue. Let our boys use YouTube !
Viewing of videos or listening to audio files has the potential of embedded viruses, worms, and Trojans being downloaded. Our adversaries believe this is an acceptable means of warfare and if not curtailed, disrupt our capability to support our troops.
I spent 20 years in the Army and cringe when hearing someone say Constitutional Rights and military in the same breath. They have not served.
small steps that each of us can take to wrestle control back from the Republican neo-con elite that are destroying America %u2026
1) CANCEL YOUR CABLE TV: let the corporate media moguls know that you can no longer support the propaganda .. the mainstream media was a big player in hyping the lies of this administration and they should be held accountable as well - buy some powered rabbit ears and get your news from PBS .. you learn to live quite nicely without the other cable shows you thought you needed - the truth is more important than cable tv %u2026
2) STOP INVESTING YOUR MONEY ON WALL STREET: %u201Cwhat ?%u201D you may say %u201Cit%u2019s doing so well%u201D %u2026 there%u2019s a reason why it%u2019s doing so well; corporate America is selling out the American middle class to the lowest global bidder and using our own money to do it; let%u2019s face it, the financial markets will push for anything that increases profits - even war; especially war %u2026 which is why the stock market is at record highs while the middle east is in utter chaos; this is by design, not accident%u2026. best to invest your money in land, real estate or gold and silver%u2026
if we want to reclaim our democracy it will take small actions by many %u2026 and with some sacrifice - empower yourselves, not the multi-national corporations who are destroying the American way of life !
serve your country and repost this post %u2026
Are the troops fighting in Iraq so Bush can continue to keep secrets from everybody. That's not democracy but smells like dictatorship to me!
Are the troops fighting in Iraq so Bush can continue to keep secrets from everybody. That's not democracy but smells like dictatorship to me!
Its sounds like their afraid our soldiers will see something they don%u2019t want them to or post something their afraid they might. I can see a reason for security issues but that would be from the posting of stuff only... not the viewing ????
I got something to tell you.
The dad gone pentagon ain't no business hombre.
Learn a little bit why don't you.
buffalo_ken
Posted by zakatak144 at 01:43 PM : May 14, 2007
I am a network administrator and I think you need to back up a space or two. MySpace and YouTube are legitimate sites where people can socialize and post whatever their heart's desire. It sound's to me that Dubya doesn't want the people here to see what is actually going on in Iraq, Afghanistan, or anywhere else for that matter. Maybe it's a little bit of "out of sight, out of mind".
P.S.: A pansie is a flower, not an accepted RFC term, so lighten up!
Posted by zakatak144 at 01:43 PM : May 14, 2007
I am a network administrator and I think you need to back up a space or two. MySpace and YouTube are legitimate sites where people can socialize and post whatever their heart's desire. It sound's to me that Dubya doesn't want the people here to see what is actually going on in Iraq, Afghanistan, or anywhere else for that matter. Maybe it's a little bit of "out of sight, out of mind".
P.S.: A pansie is a flower, not an accepted RFC term, so lighten up!
%u201CIf you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.%u201D
- Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's Propaganda Minister
Our troops will still have access to email and the phones... The only time they shut down communications was when one of our own was killed. This was to allow the military to contact the next of kin instead of the kin getting the news over the internet. Plus there are plenty of Iraqi business men there who install and set up satellite internet and tv for our troops. Yes it does come out of the troops pockets, but their access is somewhat unlimited... As the IT admin was saying earlier, the videos do take up an amazing amount of bandwidth... So much so, that cams were banned from private internet access by those who participated in the service. But there was Voip too. So if you yearned for your family's voice(s), you could talk with them without paying an arm and a leg to AT&T... One unit found it was more suitable to use Voip instead of video... With new pictures arriving via email...
Sign this Appeal.
This site is an Appeal For Redress in support of our mission in Iraq.
An Appeal For Redress is an authorized means for active duty military to submit a grievance to Congress. It can be signed by Active Duty, Reserve, or National Guard military personnel.
It is authorized by DoD Directive 1325.6 and DoD Directive 7050.6.
The wording of the Appeal for Redress is:
As an American currently serving my nation in uniform, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to fully support our mission in Iraq and halt any calls for retreat. I also respectfully urge my political leaders to actively oppose media efforts which embolden my enemy while demoralizing American support at home. The War in Iraq is a necessary and just effort to bring freedom to the Middle East and protect America from further attack.
If you are active duty, reservist or national guard, please Sign this Appeal.
Most service members fully support the war in Iraq and feel calls to retreat by Congress and attacks by our media on our conduct and mission act to motivate our enemy while demoralizing our support at home, directly increasing the threat we face and resulting in greater American casualties. This Appeal for Redress provides a way in which individual service members can appeal to Congress to fully support us and actively oppose media attacks on our mission and our morale.
This Appeal will be delivered to members of Congress.
http://www.appealforcourage.org/
USA's PLEDGE 2 THE WORLD GIVEN BY JFK!!
"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty."
--John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, Jan. 20, 1961 "
"Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." --John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, Jan. 20, 1961 "
One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half. Winston Churchill
Edmund Burke: All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing.
Finish up the mission, gd it! I am sick of this stupid war dragging on and on and on with young people and civilians slaughtered. Stupid.
The facts are not about rights, if the Goverment has the right or Soldiers have the rights.
Thats how we feel... The facts are Its a question of do we take care of our soldiers
by giving them what they want within the bounderies of needed security?
I think what they want and need should be first
since they are of course fighting for us?
Military Mom, Wife and Former WM.
Mr.gclark429 - Have you been on a military base they have places for service memebers to play games access the internet, etc. Not every soldier and Marine can afford a laptop. There is a big difference in using a computer at work and using a computer set up for the military service memeber to use on off time. The computer access is not free they do charge the service member a small fee.
Military Mom, Wife and Former WM.
Manners were taught,children learnt right from wrong. The social graces as well. It was a vet who served that helped me have the means to talk by means of computer. I care about others before me even tho I have specal needs.
Posted by metaustin at 03:06 PM : May 14, 2007
Man, I love to hear you liberals go nuts over this, do you people not read? Since when is it your constitutional right to access the sites banned by the pentagon for access on military computers? Just to refresh your memory these are the following sites that are banned:
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
Photo-sharing site Photobucket.
Now those are some serious news sources that you say will prevent the troops and their families from "will learn the truth about this illegal war." If those are the sites you get your news from it certainly explains a lot about the nutcase rantings posted here on a daily basis by you self rightous left wing nutjobs.
if it is ok for fascist nazi islamic muslims to kill all non muslims everywhere.... is it ok for the non muslims to kill all fascist nazi islamic muslims???
Wouldn't killing 5.1 BILLION people (the number of non muslims in the world) be the very definition of barbarism???
Or is it fascist nazi islam%u2019s way of solving global warming???
Switching Sides: Inside The Enemy Camp
But then in 2000, well before his arrest, something happened which would make Abas question everything he believed in: a fatwa, a religious edict, was issued by Osama bin Laden.
"It should be understood that killing Americans and Jews anywhere found are the highest act of worship and the highest form of good deeds in the eyes of Allah," Simon quotes bin Laden.
Abas and his fellow commanders were ordered to read the fatwa to their men and make sure they carried it out. The others obeyed, but Abas refused. It was his moment of truth. He firmly believed that jihad was to be fought only on the battlefield in defense of Islam; he had always been taught that the killing of civilians had nothing to do with holy war and that it was forbidden.
The fatwa justified killing non-Muslim civilians everywhere.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/04/60minutes/main2761108.shtml?source=RSSattr=60Minutes_2761108
- 1
- 2
- next
See all 66 Comments