A Soldier's Perspective

Where I Once Again Set the Record Straight II

I was sent an article by one of you readers this evening detailing new restrictions on Internet sites accessible on government owned networks. I'm already seeing people going completely crazy over this story.

DENVER, Colorado (AP) — Soldiers serving overseas will lose some of their online links to friends and loved ones back home under a Department of Defense policy that a high-ranking Army official said would take effect Monday.

The Defense Department will begin blocking access "worldwide" to YouTube, MySpace and 11 other popular Web sites on its computers and networks, according to a memo sent Friday by Gen. B.B. Bell, the U.S. Forces Korea commander.

Of course, the AP follows their usual pattern of hiding the complete story under a few paragraphs of sensationalism like those quoted above and this one.

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.

They-who-get-no-linkage (Old Skoolers know who I'm talking about) is implying it is part of an evil plot to restrict content from getting on the sites being blocked. Well, I hate to burst their bubble, but that just isn't the case.

The policy is being implemented to protect information and reduce drag on the department's networks, according to Bell.

"This recreational traffic impacts our official DoD network and bandwidth ability, while posing a significant operational security challenge," the memo said.

Now where are the rest of the facts? Ah, here they are.

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.

There are several points in the article that need addressed now that I've slammed the AP enough.

Internet Cafes won't be affected by this ban. Internet Cafes, for the most part, are not maintained by the government. They are also on a vast majority of bases. The only time Internet Cafes are required to shut down is when a service member is lost so that family can be properly notified. Everyone can agree that is the right thing to do in that case.

Bandwidth is a huge issue when you're outside the United States on a government network. Sites I use for work that load in a few seconds back in the states can take three or four times as long to load up out here on a good day. On bad days you're lucky if you can get through at all. Restricting the recreational traffic goes a long way to making sure I can get where I need to for work in a timely fashion.

Administrators of any website can, in theory, compromise a government computer by using malicious code on their sites. A vast majority of sites would never do this, but they are not invulnerable themselves. One disgruntled former employee that knows enough back doors or a hacker (wrong use of the word in this case, but it is the term most of you will understand) could easily cause damage. A lot of steps have been taken by the DoD IT gurus to ensure this doesn't happen, and the most important is classified information isn't stored on unclassified mediums. However, there could still be data on the unclassified side the can be harmful if in the wrong hands. Blocking high profile sites on the government network reduces risks.

There you have it.