bobdina
07-30-2009, 08:37 PM
DoD may curb Facebook, Twitter access
By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Jul 30, 2009 20:17:21 EDT
The Defense Department is all a-Twitter about whether to allow service members continued access to highly popular social networking sites on government computers because of network security, bandwidth and privacy concerns, a spokesman said Thursday.
The issue is a delicate one, given the predominantly youthful makeup of the armed forces and the popularity within that age group and beyond of sites such as Twitter and Facebook. The Defense Department itself has gotten into the game with its own Facebook page, and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, has more than 4,000 followers on his Twitter account.
Official opinion within the circle of those involved in the discussions range across the “full spectrum” from an outright ban to leaving things as they are, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.
“The answer is somewhere between,” he said. We’re working through this challenge of how do we operate in this environment — because these are important communication tools — and at the same time, provide the necessary protection to our systems [and] ensure the necessary operational security and private security concerns that any organization would have.
“It’s a balance,” Whitman said. “That’s what the department’s looking for right now.”
Whitman said that there may be technical solutions to the issue; one suggestion that has come up in discussions is the creation of a new network for troops, a “personal” net that would exist alongside the military’s classified and unclassified networks — an expensive proposition, he acknowledged.
U.S. Strategic Command, which oversees computer operations in the .mil domain, acknowledged the review but would say little else.
“The concept of allowing access to social networking sites on the Department of Defense .mil networks is currently under review at this time,” said a spokesman who declined to be identified. “It would be premature to comment on the outcome of the review.”
The discussions involve StratCom, the Pentagon’s chief information officer and its public affairs organization, and are being guided by Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn, Whitman said.
Whitman declined to project when a decision would be reached.
“Are we going to come out with a policy or a position on this tomorrow? No,” he said. “Next week? No, probably not. But are we working through this with some sense of urgency? Yeah, sure.”
Not the first time
It would not be the first time the Pentagon and the Internet came to loggerheads. In May 2007, the Pentagon blocked worldwide .mil computer access to YouTube, MySpace and 10 other popular sites featuring audio and video clips, citing concerns that the amount of bandwidth required by those sites was impairing the network for operational purposes. People must use their personal computers or, if deployed, go to Internet cafes, to get to the sites.
Individual commanders at some locations already restrict access to Facebook and other Web sites, Whitman said.
The current discussions center around the issue of security, both from an operational and privacy perspective, Whitman said.
“We practice something called ‘security at the source,’ ” Whitman said. “Sometimes people, because of the nature of these sites, can have a tendency to get lax in what they put on there. We have to educate people that, just like in any other types of communications, you have to make sure that you’re protecting information that is of operational concern.”
Privacy concerns could include the posting of names, birth dates or other sorts of identifying information, he said.
In addition, Whitman said, the Pentagon is concerned with outsiders “trying to exploit those sites by seeking out vulnerabilities that allow them to enter and access in an unauthorized way — computer systems that may be linking to these peer-to-peer sites,” Whitman said.
Last November, the Pentagon announced a ban on the use of thumb drives and other portable digital storage devices in .mil computers, saying they could easily transmit viruses and infect the network.
News of the Defense Department review of social networking Web sites was first reported Thursday by Wired.com.
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/07/military_facebooktwitter_ban_073009w/
By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Jul 30, 2009 20:17:21 EDT
The Defense Department is all a-Twitter about whether to allow service members continued access to highly popular social networking sites on government computers because of network security, bandwidth and privacy concerns, a spokesman said Thursday.
The issue is a delicate one, given the predominantly youthful makeup of the armed forces and the popularity within that age group and beyond of sites such as Twitter and Facebook. The Defense Department itself has gotten into the game with its own Facebook page, and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, has more than 4,000 followers on his Twitter account.
Official opinion within the circle of those involved in the discussions range across the “full spectrum” from an outright ban to leaving things as they are, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.
“The answer is somewhere between,” he said. We’re working through this challenge of how do we operate in this environment — because these are important communication tools — and at the same time, provide the necessary protection to our systems [and] ensure the necessary operational security and private security concerns that any organization would have.
“It’s a balance,” Whitman said. “That’s what the department’s looking for right now.”
Whitman said that there may be technical solutions to the issue; one suggestion that has come up in discussions is the creation of a new network for troops, a “personal” net that would exist alongside the military’s classified and unclassified networks — an expensive proposition, he acknowledged.
U.S. Strategic Command, which oversees computer operations in the .mil domain, acknowledged the review but would say little else.
“The concept of allowing access to social networking sites on the Department of Defense .mil networks is currently under review at this time,” said a spokesman who declined to be identified. “It would be premature to comment on the outcome of the review.”
The discussions involve StratCom, the Pentagon’s chief information officer and its public affairs organization, and are being guided by Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn, Whitman said.
Whitman declined to project when a decision would be reached.
“Are we going to come out with a policy or a position on this tomorrow? No,” he said. “Next week? No, probably not. But are we working through this with some sense of urgency? Yeah, sure.”
Not the first time
It would not be the first time the Pentagon and the Internet came to loggerheads. In May 2007, the Pentagon blocked worldwide .mil computer access to YouTube, MySpace and 10 other popular sites featuring audio and video clips, citing concerns that the amount of bandwidth required by those sites was impairing the network for operational purposes. People must use their personal computers or, if deployed, go to Internet cafes, to get to the sites.
Individual commanders at some locations already restrict access to Facebook and other Web sites, Whitman said.
The current discussions center around the issue of security, both from an operational and privacy perspective, Whitman said.
“We practice something called ‘security at the source,’ ” Whitman said. “Sometimes people, because of the nature of these sites, can have a tendency to get lax in what they put on there. We have to educate people that, just like in any other types of communications, you have to make sure that you’re protecting information that is of operational concern.”
Privacy concerns could include the posting of names, birth dates or other sorts of identifying information, he said.
In addition, Whitman said, the Pentagon is concerned with outsiders “trying to exploit those sites by seeking out vulnerabilities that allow them to enter and access in an unauthorized way — computer systems that may be linking to these peer-to-peer sites,” Whitman said.
Last November, the Pentagon announced a ban on the use of thumb drives and other portable digital storage devices in .mil computers, saying they could easily transmit viruses and infect the network.
News of the Defense Department review of social networking Web sites was first reported Thursday by Wired.com.
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/07/military_facebooktwitter_ban_073009w/