MySpace Off Limits

<p>Military puts MySpace and other sites off limits:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/internet/05/14/military.sites.blocked.ap/index.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/internet/05/14/military.sites.blocked.ap/index.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>From the article:</p>

<p>
[quote]
Citing security concerns and technological limits, the Pentagon has cut off access to those sites for personnel using the Defense Department's computer network.

[/quote]
</p>

<p><snip></snip></p>

<p>
[quote]
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 Defense Department's network. </p>

<p>The cafe sites are run by a private vendor, FUBI (For US By Iraqis).</p>

<p>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 e-mail.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Looks like they're trying to save bandwidth on the DoD servers...</p>

<p>Published in the Washington Compost:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/17/AR2007051702177.html?hpid=sec-tech%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/17/AR2007051702177.html?hpid=sec-tech&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>
[quote]
In a room where reporters are regularly briefed about military victories and setbacks in Iraq and Afghanistan, the discussion yesterday afternoon focused on megabits, uploads and the bandwidth constraints created by music downloads and streaming video.</p>

<p>The Defense Department, which announced Monday that it was blocking access on its networks to such popular Web sites as MySpace and YouTube, put a technology official under the spotlight to explain why bandwidth -- the available space on a computer network for transferring data -- is something that the military cannot afford to compromise....

[/quote]
</p>

<p><a href="http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/05/ap_youtube_military_070518/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/05/ap_youtube_military_070518/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>
[QUOTE]
YouTube’s co-founders on Thursday challenged the Pentagon’s assertion that soldiers overseas were sapping too much bandwidth by watching online videos, the military’s principal rationale for blocking popular Web sites from Defense Department computers.</p>

<p>“They said it might be a bandwidth issue, but they created the Internet, so I don’t know what the problem is,” CEO Chad Hurley said with a hearty laugh during an interview with The Associated Press....

[/QUOTE]
</p>

<p><a href="http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/06/military_deployed_internetaccess_070611w/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/06/military_deployed_internetaccess_070611w/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>
[QUOTE]
A key Senate committee wants a full explanation by Sept. 1 about why Internet access has been limited for deployed troops, including to such popular Web sites as MySpace and YouTube.</p>

<p>The Senate Armed Services Committee did not, however, go so far as to order Internet access restored....

[/QUOTE]
</p>

<p>Good grief. Don't those bloated, overpaid, cackling idiots on the Hill have anything better to do? :mad:</p>