Soldiers upset about new social networking ban

Whether the real reason was for national security purposes or just to fend off bad PR, the new Pentagon rules that prevent soldiers from using MySpace, Youtube and other social networking sites is not going over well:

Jeff, a soldier from the 82nd Airborne stationed in Iraq who asked that his full name not be used, said he thinks the move could be bad for morale.

“I just think it’s not going to be good for soldiers that use this to contact loved ones,” he said.

“It’s not good to take that away from soldiers. Then they have to go through the troubles of finding new ways to communicate with their families and everyone they love back home.”

Soldiers are already facing abnormally long deployments.  Now the Pentagon is removing the most basic means of contact between soldiers and their families.

But interestingly though, when you look at the new rules more closely, soldiers are allowed to search Youtube -- but not on DoD computers:

One day after the Pentagon banned US military personnel worldwide fromaccessing the wildly popular YouTube Web site via DoD computers andnetworks, the weekly electronic newsletter of the US-led Multi-NationalForces-Iraq (MNF-I) today makes a banner appeal for US forces andothers to watch MNF-I's new YouTube channel.

Unless the Department of Defense lifts (or doesn't fully apply) itsYouTube ban, US military personnel won't be able to watch their ownIraq-focused YouTube channel unless they do so on non-DoD computers andvia non-DoD Web connectivity.

In other words, the soldiers need to buy their own connections, which can be very expensive.

Comments

[Tony]

why worry? I'm sure KBR would be more than happy to connect the soldiers. Maybe they will charge them $28 each time they connect, sort of like the $28 per plate (Styrofoam) whether it has food on it or not.