Meanwhile, the US Defense Department has taken a lot of flak for its recent decision (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/14/no_youtube_for_you_soldier/) to cut off access to various bandwidth-hungry sites such as YouTube, Pandora, MySpace, and so on from its unclassified net, the NIPRNET. This has again been seen as military autocracy trying to stifle unfavourable video, pics, and comment from within, and there is probably more than a grain of truth in this viewpoint.Cutting off Myspace in particular will be particularly controversial and seems particularly wrong. It's become a very common way for troops overseas to keep in touch with SOs, family, friends, etc.....and vice versa. Bad idea, pure and simple.
-Eric
When dealing with potential security risks, the approach is normally to shut it down, and then only open it back up after it has been shown to not be a significant security risk, which is how it should be done in most cases in the military.
I don't blame the members of our military for being upset with having their access to such sites shut down temporarily, but that doesn't mean the brass acted unreasonably in the situation.