life in the desert: THIS JUST IN...

Friday, July 01, 2005

THIS JUST IN...

MaryBeth,

There was a general order issued throughout the CENTCOM AOR covering blogs and other related websites. It basically said that all blog users had to register their site and commanders were responsible for monitoring their soldiers sites quarterly for appropriate content (ie no violations of OPSEC). It is a bit of a pain, but nobody is trying to curtail freedom of speech - they just want to be sure that soldiers aren't giving away sensitive information. Part of the reason a lot of soldiers want to remain anonymous is because some soldiers inflate their experiences and become worried their comrades will see it and hassle them. Complaining about big brother is a bit of a smokescreen, I've had a weblog for months and never had an issue.

# Posted by Marybeth @ | 11:48 PM

3 Comments:

Having your commander review your blog does put a real damper on things, and I can see why many soldiers would not want to write under this condition.

Personally, even though I am a civilian, I go by a pseudonym for a similar reason: I don't want my boss finding my blog and questioning me about something I write in it (even though I don't write about my job), or worse yet, my subordinates finding it and laughing about what their boss wrote. If you're planning to write something even remotely controversial, having this partial anonymity is an asset.

By Mad Canuck, at 11:47 AM

WE MISS YOU SGT DEVORE!!!
I AGREE WITH YOU MC-REMOVE THE ANONYMITY FROM THE BLOGOSPHERE AND ID BET THE MAJORITY OF BLOG WOULD CEASE TO EXIST.

By majamom, at 7:58 PM

I sort of have two minds about this. Remember in WWI and II and all the others that letters home often had black lines blocking out text? I wonder if that's part of their concern; the leak of some info that could put soldiers in danger. I'm sure they also want to hide the truth getting out from places where improper things might be happening. Sort of a tough situation with the way the world is today. Having to rely on individual military personnel to know what's safe to write and what might not be, is likely very scary.

It's a difficult issue definitely. I sympathize with bloggers who want to keep their blogs private and write about what they're doing.

By Echomouse, at 2:48 PM

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