Posted on 05/14/2007 8:59:10 AM PDT by Fractal Trader
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.
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.
The armed services have long barred members of the military from sharing information that could jeopardize their missions or safety, whether electronically or by other means.
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.
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.
Iraqi insurgents or their supporters have been posting videos on YouTube at least since last fall, and the Army recently began posting videos on YouTube showing soldiers defeating insurgents and befriending Iraqis.
But the new rules mean many military personnel won't be able to watch those videos — at least not on military computers.
If the restrictions are intended to prevent soldiers from giving or receiving bad news, they could also prevent them from providing positive reports from the field, said Noah Shachtman, who runs a national security blog for Wired Magazine.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
How about using Free Republic to keep in touch?
You can discuss current issues and send private messages to each other?
There is no more supportive site online.
It’s indirectly about bandwidth.
Leased bandwidth costs lots of money - especially when it is dedicated satellite access bandwidth. Also at issue are the secondary and tertiary effects these streaming video applications cause on a network backbone. Streaming video is NOT multicast, and as such each session requires it own separate datastream sucking down on the order of .5 MBPS per each instance.
If you get 10 folks watching streaming video, you can see where this quickly adds up to a self created DOS attack on your own system. Not particularly good use of GOV’t bandwidth - especially when it causes other people’s systems to hang who are conducting official business.
So you admit you don't think....
That's good...I hear that admitting your inadequacies is the first step to a cure.
You are only concerned about your inconvenience...hahaha...
Thanks!
Adapt and overcome!
And your concerned with what?
I dont think there is an MWR in theatre that would support 10 people downloading streaming video. I used to turn pictures off on my broswer so it would only support text. It would probably take me 45 minutes to stream a 2 minute YouTube clip.
Exactly my point. streaming video is a bandwidth choker of HUGH effect. Yes, I’m Series....
Men and women, completely stressed out for months over in that $#!Thole who maybe could get a chance to SEE their loved ones clever enough to post a two minute clip or so online through youtube.
Sure, they could do without that luxury, if you say so.
Nice
They do ration off the bandwith to the MWR’s.
They do ration off the bandwith to the MWR’s.
They do ration off the bandwith to the MWR’s.
They do ration off the bandwith to the MWR’s.
They do ration off the bandwith to the MWR’s.
dont know what happened there
Stickey post key......
:-)
OK, I will defer to your expertise on this, I wasn’t aware of the technical issues involved, maybe the bandwidth issue is a problem as you say.
ROTFLMAO!
That pic on the hajjinet splash looks like one of my smaller IDF’s when I took over redesigning the CFLCC network at Camp Doha, KU back in ‘02.
Too funny. Spaghetti factory from hell. Now imagine this:
14 or so Cisco Catalys 2900’s (the older one’s) cascaded with 1 CAT 5 shot out to the MDF a single Cisco 7500 Router). Now add 15 more IDF’s as described above, varying in size from three 2900’s to twenty 2900’s......
Argh.
http://www.hajjinet.com/Home.html
Interesting site. Well connected, too. I just downloaded his presentation video at 1943kb/sec. It's rare that a site maxes out my glass pipe. Usually, I have to resort to BitTorrent to do that.
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