Posted on 05/13/2007 5:30:35 AM PDT by Cannoneer No. 4
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Links Army Engineers – Gulf YouTube page Army Civil Affairs – Afghanistan YouTube page |
Starting Monday, the Defense Department will block access to MySpace, YouTube and a host of other sites on official department computers worldwide, in an effort to boost its network efficiency.
Troops and families living on U.S. bases will still be able to view the sites through private Internet networks, but the move leaves servicemembers in Iraq and Afghanistan who use the popular picture- and video-sharing sites with little or no access to them.
Defense officials said the move is solely a reaction to the heavy drain the streaming video and audio can put on the defense computer network.
“We’re not passing any judgment on these sites, we’re just saying you shouldn’t be accessing them at work,” said Julie Ziegenhorn, spokeswoman for U.S. Strategic Command. “This is a bandwidth and network management issue. We’ve got to have the networks open to do our mission. They have to be reliable, timely and secure.”
In a message to troops from U.S. Forces Korea commander Gen. B.B. Bell on Friday, he acknowledged many of the sites being blocked are used by troops to keep in touch with family and friends.
“This recreational traffic impacts our official DOD network and bandwidth availability, while posting a significant operational security challenge,” he wrote.
Ironically, the Defense Department this year had just begun expanding its own use of YouTube to reach a younger, broader audience and show clips of U.S. troops in action.
Multi-National Force — Iraq, U.S. Army Civil Affairs Command in Afghanistan, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the Gulf Region have all launched new channels on the Web site to highlight recent successes overseas.
Ziegenhorn said that wasn’t taken into consideration when the Joint Task Force Global Network Operations began reviewing and flagging sites that posed problems to the network.
“This is all about what is a drain on the system,” she said.
A review of the banned sites has been under way since February, she said. And the task force is still considering other problematic addresses to add to the list.
“This will be an ever-evolving discussion, because we need to constantly make sure those networks are available and secure,” she said.
The official policy blocking the sites will be released Monday, the same day they go into effect. But Ziegenhorn said most network administrators are already aware of the change.
The individual services have already blocked some sites for the same bandwidth issues. In addition, Defense Department policy prohibits troops or civilian workers from using government computers from accessing inappropriate sites because of inappropriate content, such as pornography.
Eventually, every thing will be blocked but .mil sites.
Hajji Mart will be selling a lot of satellite dishes.
Hmmm. This sounds more like the “official” explanation. Today’s network backbones, even those owned by the DoD, are pretty capable of handling these kinds of loads. I call BS.
I pay a nominal monthly fee for a local Iraqi service that I can use from my quarters in the evenings to gain access to the fun stuff. I brought my own personal laptop with me and now I'm VERY glad I did.
You’re calling it wrong. The buffet on the internet is about to change with per megabyte usage charges. The DOD is just in front of the curve on this one.
ping
“Inappropriate content, get back to work.”
(Sunday morning fat fingers and no coffee yet.)
“are pretty capable of handling these kinds of loads. I call BS.”
It’s not BS. Streaming audio and video will kill a network faster than just about anything, especially one that tries to be secure and centralized for those same security reasons.
They have to crackdown on this because China complained their downloading of all US military computer data is taking too long.
proxy ISP’s.
If security is an issue, why is there a NIPR? (Non-classified Internet Protocol Router Network)
Eventually, some JAG weenie will declare that sites which are not blocked are endorsed by J-6, followed by J-6 blocking every thing but .mil
“Streaming audio and video will kill a network faster than...”
Agreed. Esp in remote or poor-wire/fibre service exists.....fact is, for lots of military use the broadband GEO’s are used to provide very local (wired) LANs for official use......thus it is very often a spectrum problem.
Here is some Sat ISP info for US bases in Iraq.....
http://www.satellite-provider.pl/iraq-us-army.html
” jesus christ what a stupid explanation.”
Calm down, my friend. If you’d ever managed an enterprise network, you’d know that it isn’t such a stupid explanantion.
Security, on one hand favors a low number of “chokepoints” while bandwidth demands a more distributed number of “chokepoints”. Do the math. Even a modest 100kBps data stream multiplied over tens of thousands of users is a formidable data stream, especially when you consider remote links that are almost always bandwidth starved.
Internet Radio is used by many users just like a regular radio.....you turn it on, and leave it on all day....and mute the audio when you get a phone call - still consuming bandwidth.
Add video sites like YouTube and.....you kill your network.
That seems incredibly unlikely, at this point in time.
What would lead you to believe that?
“It’s not BS. Streaming audio and video will kill a network faster than just about anything, especially one that tries to be secure and centralized for those same security reasons.”
Bingo. I had to shut down IDS (Block ports) when I was at Camp Doha, KU. Also, where I am these days Unclass network is DOG slow. (This has to do with a whole bunch of stuff {like overloading the OS on all the systems with every security checking device and filter known to man} but Streaming Voice/videpo is a major contributing factor).
Hang a sniffer {if you can.... :-)} and see the traffic spike when video is played....
At least I can still access FR.
< fingers crossed>
I lost more than half (65%) the traffic on my network when I eliminated non-work related streaming sites.
Incidentally, I also monitored the network for a week before turning it on, and was amazed at some of the sites that people were visiting.....hardcore, everything....all traceable directly to the individual
That's what blocks my Photobucket.
And get this...it blocks my ability to do a keyword search on the Federal Acquisition Regulations site. Go figure.
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