Tech Shout!

First it was the Canadian government employees who were banned from FaceBook. Now, soldiers who are serving overseas will lose some of their online links to loved ones back home.

Under a Department of Defense policy that is effective from today onwards, access to YouTube, MySpace and 11 other popular Web sites on its computers and networks will be blocked.

This policy is being implemented in order to protect information. It is also being undertaken so as to reduce any lags in the department’s networks.

The memo said, “This recreational traffic impacts our official DoD network and bandwidth ability, while posing a significant operational security challenge.”

The armed services have barred members of the military from sharing information that could jeopardize their missions or safety, whether electronically or even by other means.

This new policy is different is different because it creates a blanket ban on several Web sites used by military personnel to exchange messages, pictures, video and audio with family and friends.

However, members of the military are still able to access the Web sites on their own computers and networks. Defense Department computers and networks are the only ones available to many soldiers and sailors in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Web sites covered by the ban are the video-sharing web sites YouTube, Metacafe, IFilm, StupidVideos and FileCabi, social networking sites like MySpace, BlackPlanet, Hi5 and music sites like Pandora, MTV, 1.fm, and live365 and photo-sharing site Photobucket.