Soldiers denied access to YouTube

US soldiers serving overseas have been banned from using popular websites including YouTube and MySpace to keep in touch with family and friends, a US Army Commander said.

The Department of Defence "will block worldwide access" to YouTube, MySpace and 11 other popular websites on its computers and networks, according to the memo sent by General BB Bell, the US Forces Korea commander.

The policy is being implemented to protect information and reduce drag on the department's networks.

Gen Bell said: "This recreational traffic impacts our official DoD network and bandwidth ability, while posing a significant operational security challenge".

The new policy creates a blanket ban on several sites used by military personnel to exchange messages, pictures, video and audio with family and friends.

Members of the military can still access the sites on their own computers and networks, but Defence Department computers and networks are the only ones available to many soldiers and sailors in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The move is in addition to the general policy of banning members of the military from sharing information that could jeopardise their missions or safety.

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

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