From Stars and Stripes…
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.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. (my emphasis)
ADDED: OK I’ve mulled this over a bit and I have two questions. The first question comes from skepticism of the above stated reason to block access to these sites and the second accepts the reason at face value.
First question…WTF?
Admittedly I know nothing of the DoD’s system but it wouldn’t be possible to at least find the bandwidth for the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan? YouTube is very popular with the troops. It’s a means of communicating with friends, family and “the world.” Or would DoDprefer that not to happen? Pardon me for questioning but I do wonder given the way the war is going, the recent crackdown on soldier’s blogs and well some of those YouTube videos have not been very flattering ( and under investigation).
Second question…WTF?
DoD’s 2007 budget is $439 billion and they have a system that can’t handle the present level of streaming video and audio without being drained? What level are we talking about here? How robust is this system? Again pardon the questions but government certainly has had its problems when it comes to IT systems. Does DoD have the same?
Seems either way this ought to be questioned.