What Not to Post

[unhappycamper]

What Not to Post
April 02, 2008
Air Force Print News|by Ashley M. Wright

MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. - Your location on a friend network, a photo on Facebook, a prayer for a deployed family member on a military-based blog -- all posted on the World Wide Web with the intent to bring comfort to loved ones and news to friends. This information may seem harmless, but when put together these puzzle pieces show a picture with more information than military members should share.

To demonstrate the amount of information available, Col. Andy Pears, director of Communications and Information for Air University, became a "completely fictional" staff sergeant on a social networking site designed for military members. The colonel said he had no trouble creating a profile and false identity.

With a few mouse clicks, Colonel Pears found combat and operations histories, pictures from inside deployed locations, descriptions and duties within that location and details about military members receiving medals. There was never an attempt to confirm military affiliation, he said.

"You look at this kid right here," the colonel said, pointing to a picture of a uniformed man posing against a concrete wall. "The enemy may already have his name and information about his family."

Great Britain's security service recently found hundreds of false accounts belonging to Al-Qaeda members on social networking sites, according to a briefing prepared by Colonel Pears' office. British service members were advised to remove personnel details from those social networking sites.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/air-force-news/what-not-to-post.html?col=1186032369229

[glowing]

1. B.S... they've been trying to block family and military from blogging

and using myspace and YouTube for some time now.. We aren't that stupid to think that with the invention of satellite technology and shit google, that you can't pinpoint people in their locations. They are just afraid of more puppies flying through the air or confessionals from soldiers tearfully breaking down and saying they killed an innocent woman...

[Dhalgren]

2. I agree. This is nothing but control, control, control. Soldiers deployed

in foreign countries are never hard to find - especially by those who want to fight them. Does the US government actually think that if it isn't on the internets, the Iraqis won't know that US Army units are in their country? Total bullshit...

[TahitiNut]

3. Col. Andy Pears seems to suffer from the old "Cold War menality"

As though the "evil empire" had the vast resources to keep some intelligence database to tap into and select/capture a soldier at whim and sap America's vital juices. Comic book thinking.