Pentagon Bans YouTube, MySpace

Category Podcast, Video, myspace, internet, Politics, Movies | Permalink | 16. May 2007

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The Pentagon has opened up a new line of demarcation in an Information War, and U.S. troops and their families may be caught in the digital crossfire.

The Defense Department has announced it will begin blocking access on its computers and networks “worldwide” to YouTube, MySpace and 11 other popular Web sites, according to a memo sent Friday by Gen. B.B. Bell, the U.S. Forces Korea commander.

Soldiers serving overseas will therefore lose some of their online links to friends and loved ones back home. A high-ranking Army official said the ban would take effect Monday.

“This is as much an information war as it is bombs and bullets,” he said. “And they are muzzling their best voices.”

The sites covered by the ban are:

* Video-sharing sites YouTube, Metacafe, IFilm, StupidVideos and FileCabi;
* Social networking sites MySpace, BlackPlanet and Hi5;
* Music sites Pandora, MTV, 1.fm and live365; and
* Photo-sharing site Photobucket.