Social networking sites banned on Department of Defense computers

Social networking sites banned on Department of Defense computers

US military has said that they are now blocking access to social networking services like YouTube and MySpace on the computer systems of Department of Defense.

The aim is to prevent the wastage of bandwidth on the networks as these sites are usually full of media contents.

The ban would also prevent these systems to get affected by viruses and worms being spread around through these social networks.

Defense Department spokesman Commander Jeffrey Gordon said in a statement: “The bottom line is bandwidth; that is the most important thing. We have to make sure the network is reliable.”

The ban is however not applicable on the computers owned by the soldiers and other workers in the department.

Gordon admitted: “It obviously impacts people deployed far greater than those in the US. Here you can just go home to your house and go online, or go to a coffee shop to get on the Internet.”

It is well known that the soldiers deployed in countries like Iraq often uses these services to communicate with their loved ones at homes. They would now be disappointed as the official systems are their only mean of internet access.