Check out this story: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,272014,00.html. What do you think? I am not sure I understand the reasoning behind it, and it makes me worry if there could be some other type of ban in the future.
It also makes me wonder if anyone is censoring these sites. I was able to watch the hanging of Sadame Hussein on you-tube, which was very disturbing. Are there somethings that should be taken off the web? Is there anyway to monitor it?
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I personally think it's just like a school or business putting up a firewall. The sites listed did not include every single way to chat or get messages from family.
I think Jamey is on target. Most companies have internet and email usage policies, and various sites are blocked based on that policy (usually, those not deemed necessary or appropriate). I suspect the military is no different. They don't want people screwing around on their time.
Some companies block sites altogether (I couldn't get to sports sites like ESPN at my last company.) Others just monitor usage by employees and deal with abuse on a case by case basis.
It makes me very uncomfortable. It gives the impression (at the least) of censorship.
Having family overseas that currently communicate with family back home via MySpace makes me aware of the importance of using technology to boost the moral of troops. No doubt, it is abused by some and could make troops less productive and systems subject to hackers. It does seem, however, that monitoring and restricting use would be a first step before a blanket ban. If a librarian can control what you view and how long you are logged on, surely a highly trained military officer can do the same.
Company's can ban them I agree. But it seems as if the military should be able to control it without the use of a ban.
And it does make me concerned about a universal ban...
I think the ban is an effort to control time management of employees and the amount of information being transmitted over the network--since the article says it's only on DoD network computers and the ban to reduce how much the network gets bogged down. In this regard, I agree with the ban--employees spending time on the internet has become a problem for most employers, and they have they right to regulate the way their paid time is spent. This situation does have extenuating circumstances, though, because it affects the soldiers who are overseas. Perhaps the military could develop some sort of site specifically for the troops to use to communicate with family and friends. I don't really know the solution.
I'm thinking that when you join the military you're pretty much aware of the fact that you have a "boss" who is going to be controlling not only your professional life, but much of your personal life as well.
In that way, it kind of reminds me of Harding. Sure, we had censorship there, and to a large degree were told how to run our lives, but we signed up for that ahead of time.
It seems like a similar principle to me.
Having said that, I'm sure that if I was in the military, I wouldn't like it.
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