What's Motivating the Military's Selective Web Site Ban?

Citing constrained bandwidth and latent surety issues, the Pentagon enjoy opening rundown U.S. troops' access to several municipal network and other high-volume Web site. Soldiers can lifeless remit to MySpace and YouTube -- two of the excluded sites --but simply from open-air network.

However, history in a foreign country forces personnel, plus thousands stationed inside Iraq and Afghanistan, have no Internet access bar the Defense Department networks, which they rely lying on to halt in smidgen beside dump of abode and friends.

Other sites layered by the no cover Metacafe, IFilm, StupidVideos, FileCabi, BlackPlanet, Hi5, Pandora, MTV, 1.fm, live365 and Photobucket.

To be positive, bandwidth requirements pose a legal forethought that be not limited to the U.S. military. Large corporation, all for case, have taken to lock impel out of having mass appeal stream video sites at the workplace in demand to ensure that their networks can lope at filled scope.

Sharing video, swapping photo and other popular Web 2.0 deeds can effortlessly devour stirring vastly of bandwidth, said Jeff Stibel, CEO of Google, which provide military family with tools to pause on multimedia sites.

"It can be a concern," he tell TechNewsWorld.

Also, security risk should not be underestimate, warn Melissa Feagin, a last remark system technician who not long detached from the U.S. Navy.

"A military pattern is an entirely conflicting entity than a civilian one," she told TechNewsWorld. "Every morning, our networks be lower than tirade from foreign invader. Whoever think our antagonist are out herd their camels are sorrowfully flawed. Our militant enemies have networks of deeply fast, skilled operatives valid hours of darkness and day to hack into our networks." Although the military warns sailors and soldiers to never uncover their schedule or location, "there will obviously always be that one who do report his mom flipside in Wisconsin that 'the liner is pull into Dubai subsequent Tuesday,'" Feagin ceaseless. "Especially after the USS Cole adversity, mistake parallel to this can be mortal." MySpace has a element call "MySpace Chat," she noted. "Any banter scope online allowing user real-time dialogue is harshly unmentionable on piece United States Navy vessel, in place of that slide that one creature let slip out may reveal the ship's detailed real-time configuration." By blocking access to such sites, the Pentagon is also protecting itself from a rampant virus vector, Dan Nadir, vice president of article of business strategy for ScanSafe, told TechNewsWorld. "Some users are not that developed in knowing not to download not to be faulted files from a P2P (peer-to-peer) encampment, for mock-up," he said. "This is a valid security chance -- not only in the military, but in the corporate world also." Still, the ban -- which the Pentagon imposed with little deterrent -- is undercutting a category of communications fundamental and dear to deploy militaristic forces and their families. Soldiers have be using these sites to stay in touch and furnish their loved ones several suffer of what is going on with them.