May 2nd, 2007

Soldiers losing the right to blog

Posted by Alex Payson at 10:34 am

From Wired online-

The U.S. Army has ordered soldiers to stop posting to blogs or sending personal e-mail messages, without first clearing the content with a superior officer, Wired News has learned. The directive, issued April 19, is the sharpest restriction on troops’ online activities since the start of the Iraq war. And it could mean the end of military blogs, observers say.

It continues-

with the regulations drawn so tightly, “many commanders will feel like they have no choice but to forbid their soldiers from blogging — or even using e-mail,” said Jeff Nuding, who won the bronze star for his service in Iraq. “If I’m a commander, and think that any slip-up gets me screwed, I’m making it easy: No blogs,” added Nuding, writer of the “pro-victory” Dadmanly site. “I think this means the end of my blogging.”
Active-duty troops aren’t the only ones affected by the new guidelines. Civilians working for the military, Army contractors — even soldiers’ families — are all subject to the directive as well.

Protecting our military secrets and intel is certainly extremely important. However these new regulations seem more like an attempt to prevent the spread of unsavory news, than to protect our soldiers.

You can read the entire article here.

Posted in General news, Politics