The U.S. Army has ordered soldiers to stop posting to blogs or sending personal e-mail messages, without first clearing the content with a superior officer, Wired News has learned. The directive, issued April 19, is the sharpest restriction on troops' online activities since the start of the Iraq war. And it could mean the end of military blogs, observers say.
Noah reports the rules "require a commander be consulted before every blog update."
Quote:
[The rule] restricts more than just blogs, however. Previous editions of the rules asked Army personnel to "consult with their immediate supervisor" before posting a document "that might contain sensitive and/or critical information in a public forum." The new version, in contrast, requires "an OPSEC review prior to publishing" anything -- from "web log (blog) postings" to comments on internet message boards, from resumes to letters home.
Failure to do so, the document adds, could result in a court-martial, or "administrative, disciplinary, contractual, or criminal action."
_________________ Unfortunately, at the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius, the Flower Children jerked off and went back to sleep.
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 11:54 pm Posts: 12287 Location: Manguetown Gender: Male
Bad for them, since thanks to those blogs the military got the support of many people.
_________________ There's just no mercy in your eyes There ain't no time to set things right And I'm afraid I've lost the fight I'm just a painful reminder Another day you leave behind
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 1:14 am Posts: 37778 Location: OmaGOD!!! Gender: Male
Oh, in case you were wondering, this doesn't only apply to soldiers in the field. It apparently also applies to National Guard soldiers who are not deployed, but are living at home in America.
_________________ Unfortunately, at the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius, the Flower Children jerked off and went back to sleep.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:19 pm Posts: 39068 Location: Chapel Hill, NC, USA Gender: Male
LittleWing wrote:
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
The new version, in contrast, requires "an OPSEC review prior to publishing" anything -- from "web log (blog) postings" to comments on internet message boards, from resumes to letters home.
This isn't that big of a deal. It really isn't. In fact, OPSEC is really important. They aren't censoring opinions, they are helping with Operational Security (OPSEC).
One thing that I have always tried to do is ensure that I'm not violating operational security. I don't talk about things in the future tense hardly ever. "Hey, my plane back to the states is leaving in a month at 5PM!" You never see me talk about missions in the future, at least not specifically.
This has been a PROBLEM in Iraq. And even a problem here. People are just...blabbing about all kinds of crap, and it puts us all at risk. People take pictures of bases and post them on the internet, they talk about flight's home, they talk about upcoming missions, and it's free information to the enemy.
Now, if they started censoring my personal opinions, I'd be a little bit upset, but I don't think that's happening.
Even here in Djibouti, I know, that just about everything I do is checked. My posts are read, my phone calls are listened to, it's just a part of the beast. We, as members of the military, owe it to our fellow service members to ensure that operational security is upheld...but it's not.
The new version, in contrast, requires "an OPSEC review prior to publishing" anything -- from "web log (blog) postings" to comments on internet message boards, from resumes to letters home.
This isn't that big of a deal. It really isn't. In fact, OPSEC is really important. They aren't censoring opinions, they are helping with Operational Security (OPSEC).
One thing that I have always tried to do is ensure that I'm not violating operational security. I don't talk about things in the future tense hardly ever. "Hey, my plane back to the states is leaving in a month at 5PM!" You never see me talk about missions in the future, at least not specifically.
This has been a PROBLEM in Iraq. And even a problem here. People are just...blabbing about all kinds of crap, and it puts us all at risk. People take pictures of bases and post them on the internet, they talk about flight's home, they talk about upcoming missions, and it's free information to the enemy.
Now, if they started censoring my personal opinions, I'd be a little bit upset, but I don't think that's happening.
Even here in Djibouti, I know, that just about everything I do is checked. My posts are read, my phone calls are listened to, it's just a part of the beast. We, as members of the military, owe it to our fellow service members to ensure that operational security is upheld...but it's not.
are you saying that the military is regularly accessing rm
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 10:57 pm Posts: 3332 Location: Chicago-ish
I don't really see the problem with this. When you join the military, you know you will sacrifice some of your personal liberties for security of the force.
Corporations patrol blogs to keep secure (mostly from lawsuits), why shouldn't the military for more important purposes?
i was actually referring to the fact that about 95% of tree_'s thread are unreadable and he hasn't been on for a while. but no, i didn't read your post until now. I'm glad that it appears they won't censor your opinion.
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 4:52 pm Posts: 10620 Location: Chicago, IL Gender: Male
Wow, the military is censoring things during times of war. Big surprise. I'm sure that's never happened before. Mail during WWII? Never. Phone calls during Vietnam? Of course not.
Wait, this is the first protracted war during the internet age? Well, that changes everything. Now it's an unacceptable infringement on a soldier's 1st Amendment rights and a reflection of the inherent evilness of the military and Bush Administration to try to decrease the risk of putting soldiers in harm's way.
V-Mail was precisely the example I was going to cite here. Well said.
_________________ i was dreaming through the howzlife yawning car black when she told me "mad and meaningless as ever" and a song came on my radio like a cemetery rhyme for a million crying corpses in their tragedy of respectable existence
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