Monday, May 14, 2007

Online Entertainment for Soldiers? Not In This Man's Army...

...at least not easily.

Over two weeks ago it was revealed that the US Army was clamping down on soldiers' blogs, even after the soldiers returned home. Now the Pentagon has has blocked access to sites such as YouTube and MySpace on military networks:
No more using the military's computer system to socialize and trade videos on MySpace, YouTube and nine other Web sites, the Pentagon says.

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

The change limits use of the popular outlets for service members on the front lines, who regularly post videos and journals.
The Pentagon still allows soldiers to use their own computers, nor does it affect internet cafes in the area, which are run by a private vendor. However, for those soldiers who don't have the money to go to internet cafes or purchase laptops (or for those whose families are too poor to afford computers to ship to them), their access possible morale boosting entertainment has been severely curtailed.

As usual, those without money are getting the short, pointy, infected end of the stick.

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