First blogging, now this? Apparently, all of this can still be viewed, uploaded, etc at Internet cafes, just not on the military networks.
YouTube Pioneers Challenge Pentagon
YouTube’s co-founders on Thursday challenged the Pentagon’s assertion that soldiers overseas were sapping too much bandwidth by watching online videos, the military’s principal rationale for blocking popular Web sites from Defense Department computers.
“They said it might be a bandwidth issue, but they created the Internet, so I don’t know what the problem is,” Chief Executive Chad Hurley said with a hearty laugh during an interview with The Associated Press.
Hurley, Chief Technology Officer Steve Chen and YouTube spokeswoman Julie Supan emphasized that the online video company is trying to work with the Pentagon in hopes the military will reverse course or at least partially repeal the ban.
[…]
The Pentagon said this week it was cutting off service members’ access to YouTube, MySpace and 11 other Web sites, some of which are used by soldiers on the front lines of Iraq and Afghanistan to post videos and journals for friends and family back home.
[…]
Company officials said they were especially puzzled by the block because it came just days after the military launched its own channel on YouTube offering what it calls a “boots-on-the-ground” perspective of scenes of combat.
A new Iraqi government policy implemented this month bans news photographers and camera operators from filming bombing scenes, meaning video taken by citizens and uploaded to YouTube could become the only imagery the public sees of such devastation.
“We want to protect the (YouTube) community from being exposed to something violent, but at the same time, we want to educate people on what’s happening around the world,” Hurley said. “It’s hard for us.”
This makes the military different from most other large employers how?
Other large employers don’t expect thousands of their employees to die while doing their jobs.
2. add ” fighting for freedom against this sort of thing”
#1 – #2 – #3- Also, most companies don’t ask you to give up your identity, any assemblence of normalcy, or half your rights as a citizen.
Not to mention, if I don’t like my job, I can quit.
Hey… That’s right! I can quit!
WOO HOO!!!!!
#1, you’re comparing apples to sweat socks
They’d rather have them torture and abuse iraquis.
The military would rather have their troops cut off from those back home to reduce the amount of negative publicity coming out of Iraq. Much better for the propoganda machine if the military can control all of the news coming out of there.
If anyone is still reading this. The military has always banned the use of nice things for the common soldier. When I was in, they banned the use of pre-polished dress shoes. But the officers were the ones who used them first. And it was Ok for them. You can just bet that the upper echelon of the military still gets YouTube and streaming porn, whenever they want it. Generals need their little diversions, ya know.