Eighteen months after US troops were banned from using a number of social networking Web sites, the Pentagon has unveiled its latest plan to prevent classified material leaking onto the Internet: its own version of YouTube.
The US military pulled back the curtains on Wednesday on TroopTube, a video-sharing Web site that it hopes will satisfy both the demand for communication from serving members of the armed forces and the department of defense’s requirements for secrecy.
TroopTube.tv [www.trooptube.tv] says it is a site “designed to help military families connect and keep in touch while miles apart,” and offers personnel and their families the chance to upload videos and share them with each other.
The Web site works in a similar fashion to YouTube. Users sign up by identifying themselves as military personnel — or a relative of a member of the armed forces — and are then able to upload videos. However, all videos are screened by Pentagon employees to make sure there is nothing that potentially threatens national security or uses copyright-protected material.
Dozens of videos have already been uploaded, including messages of support from spouses, parents and children. Some are intended to show serving troops what they are missing — including the first steps by the baby daughter of one marine — while others give a taste of home: a series of clips from a baseball game, for example.
The move is the latest in a long-running struggle between defense officials who want to reduce the cost and the security threat of Internet access, and troops on the ground who want to use the open Web for communication and entertainment.
Last May it emerged that the Pentagon had blocked its computer networks from accessing a number of Web sites — effectively banning YouTube, MySpace and similar sites. According to official documents, it was felt that the sites not only threatened troop safety, but also placed an undue burden on the department’s Internet capability.
The Pentagon has struggled to cope with a new generation who use social networking tools and communications to carry uncensored versions of their life at war. It has tried to close down or silence a number of blogs and message boards by active personnel.
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