I would be willing to bet they will just find smaller start up sites like Hi.Net and float between them. Why not just set up systems based for entertainment.

This is the Bush Administration working hard (yes, your tax dollars at work)to try to hide America's lack of support for this war. America has grown tired of lies and misrepresentation. This is sadly, a way to hide the truth from those who are serving in Iraq. The soldiers deserve to know the truth. Just another way the Bush Administration removes rights from Americans and those serving this country.

This has been way overdue! I would like to start out by saying that I am a veteran of the first Gulf War. I know the importance of communication to family and friends from abroad. That being said... the fact that a real-time/near real-time, open line of communication has been available to the states from the front lines has been available is shocking. It is ridiculous to think that you can patrol the email traffic of all of our troops. Troops can be inadvertently be divulging crucial information through casual conversations to friends or relatives. Not to mention the odds of picking up a coded malicious message through several tens of thousands of innocent ones would be staggering to say the least.

Having a secrete security clearance we were warned of some of the tactics the enemy has used in the past to get information out of our soldiers and sailors. A common tactic is to engage the person in a relationship and proceed to ask seemingly typical questions that appear innocent when asked but can be used to triangulate troop movements and size of strength. In the past, when this data took several days (typically 7-10) for mail to reach home most of this information was outdated and generally useless by the time it was received. However, having access to this data in real-time is frightening and dangerous.

Any veteran will tell you that although we are not always informed of where we are heading or what our purpose is when we get there… we always had a really good idea! While I feel compassion for my brothers (and sisters) on active tours, I would rather them suffer the loneliness of slow correspondence than to endanger their lives.

Thats really gay..no more talkin to family thats real smooth right there

Military Intelligence can be obtained from the most casual of communications and ,infact, many times it is.

"First of all, the military networks are gigantic enough to be able to handle the bandwidth being used by members of the Armed forces chatting with their friends on MySpace or watching YouTube video clips."

Obviously you have never been on a military network, otherwise you wouldn't open your mouth about how big the bandwidth is! Your cable network probably has more bandwidth than the military network does, especially when it is shared by numerous computers.

"This is sadly, a way to hide the truth from those who are serving in Iraq. The soldiers deserve to know the truth. Just another way the Bush Administration removes rights from Americans and those serving this country."

The truth about what? The truth that soldiers know more about what type of freedoms Americans truly enjoy? Besides they aren't removing your rights, just those who signed up in the military, otherwise you wouldn't be able to put up stupid posts like you did.

"Thats really gay..no more talkin to family thats real smooth right there"

We have a way to communicate with our family members, it is called AKO.

The type of stuff I have seen soldiers put on YouTube can be very detrimental to military operations. This is one of many reasons that the military has the right to shutdown the access to these type of sites.

I don't want to deny soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan any source of diversion when they have the time, the energy, and the physical security to get it, BUT...

Mike (above) is right. The potential for compromise of sensitive information is too great. I, too, served in the first Gulf War, in military intelligence no less, and things were leaky enough as it was without the internet to add to the mix.

My other objection to near-real-time communication with family and friends at home is that I think it can exacerbate relationship problems and raise new and problematic issues among family members. I'm thankful that I had essentially no contact with my family, my (civilian) friends and my spouse during the build-up to and the actual ground war. I wanted to concentrate on surviving and doing my job, and the last thing I wanted was a distraction from back home.

If I'd returned from a patrol in 2007 Baghdad, the LAST thing I would want would be to feel I had to send an email to a whiny spouse wanting to know why he hadn't heard from me in 48 whole HOURS, and how he was WORRIED and blah blah blah...I can guarantee that would have ended my marriage right then and there.

In short, I think instant communication to family and friends stateside is potentially harmful on both personal and operational security levels. I wish there was a way to provide soldiers with much-needed diversion without distraction or danger.

I agree with the statement above by the staff sergent. People abroad could endanger themselves if allowed to use sites like YouTube and MySpace. Too much information is given to loved ones on the homefront to allow such access. The DoD is doing a good job by blocking those sites.