Soldier-Bloggers Gagged.

CITING security concerns and technological limits, the Pentagon has cut off access to MySpace, YouTube and nine other websites for personnel using the Defence Department’s computer network.

The change limits use of the popular outlets for service members on the front lines, who regularly post videos and journals.
The sites covered by the ban are the 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 the photo-sharing site Photobucket.

Lieutenant Daniel Zimmerman, a US infantry platoon leader in Iraq, puts a blog on the internet every now and then “to basically keep my friends and family up to date” back home.

“I put my blog on there and my family reads it,” said Lt Zimmerman, 29, a platoon leader with B Company, 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment. 

“I keep it as vague as possible. I’m pretty responsible about it. It’s just basically to tell a little bit about my life over here.”

Lt Zimmerman is regularly at a base where he doesn’t have Defence Department access to the internet, but he has used it when he goes to bigger bases.

Memos about the change went out in February, and it took effect last week. It does not affect the internet cafes that soldiers in Iraq use that are not connected to the Defence Department’s network. The cafe sites are run by a private vendor, FUBI (For US By Iraqis).

Also, the ban also does not affect other sites, such as Yahoo, and does not prevent soldiers from sending messages and photos to their families by email.

Internet use has become a troublesome issue for the military as it struggles to balance security concerns with privacy rights. As blogs and video-sharing become more common, the military has voiced increasing concern about service members revealing details about military operations or other information about equipment or procedures that will aid the enemy.

At the same time, service members have used the websites to chronicle their time in battle, posting videos and writing journals that provide a powerful, personal glimpse into their days at war.

“These actions were taken to enhance and increase network security and protect the use of the bandwidth,” Pentagon spokesman Colonel Gary Keck said.

The Pentagon said that use of the video sites in particular was putting a strain on the network, and also opening it to potential viruses or penetration by so-called “phishing” attacks in which scam artists try to steal sensitive data by mimicking legitimate websites.

“The US Army’s not going to pay the bill for you to get on MySpace and YouTube,” said Major Bruce Mumford, who is serving as the brigade communications officer for the 4th Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, in Iraq. “Soldiers need to know what they can and cannot do, but we shouldn’t be facilitating it.”