AIR FORCE BANS ALL SITES WITH WORD 'BLOG' IN THEM

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WIRED - The Air Force is tightening restrictions on which blogs its
troops can read, cutting off access to just about any independent site
with the word "blog" in its web address. It's the latest move in a
larger struggle within the military over the value -- and hazards -- of
the sites.  At least one senior Air Force official calls the squeeze so
"utterly stupid, it makes me want to scream."

Until recently, each major command of the Air Force had some control
over what sites their troops could visit, the Air Force Times reports.
Then the Air Force Network Operations Center, under the service's new
"Cyber Command," took over:

"AFNOC has imposed bans on all sites with 'blog' in their URLs, thus
cutting off any sites hosted by Blogspot. Other blogs, and sites in
general, are blocked based on content reviews. . . The idea isn't to
keep airmen in the dark -- they can still access news sources that are
"primary, official-use sources," said Maj. Henry Schott, A5 for Air
Force Network Operations. "Basically ... if it's a place like The New
York Times, an established, reputable media outlet, then it's fairly cut
and dry that that's a good source, an authorized source," he said. . .

Blogs and social networking sites have faced all sorts of restrictions
on military networks, for all sorts of reasons. MySpace and YouTube are
officially banned, for eating up too much bandwidth. Stringent
regulations, read literally, require Army officers to review each and
every item one of his soldiers puts online, in case they leak secrets.
And in televised commercials, screensavers and fliers, troops are told
that blogging is a major security risk -- even though official sites
have proven to leak many, many more secrets. Now there's the Air Force's
argument, that blogs aren't legitimate media outlets -- and therefore,
shouldn't be read at work. . .

Gen. David Petraeus, who heads the U.S. effort in Iraq, has commended
military bloggers. Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, who replaced
Petraeus as the head of the Combined Arms Center and Fort Leavenworth,
recently wrote (in a blog post, no less) that soldiers should be
encouraged to "get onto blogs and [s]end their YouTube videos to their
friends and family."

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/02/air-force-banni.html

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