British Soldiers Restricted on Social Networking Sites

British Soldiers Restricted on Social Networking Sites

According to reports from The Sun, soldiers based in Afghanistan have been prohibited from using social networking web sites such as MySpace and Facebook. An order is said to have been issued as 'With The Media and Communicating In Public' on February 4.


Such order is intended to keep classified information from being published on the internet. An excerpt from the order states,  "Service and Ministry of Defence [MoD] civilian personnel are encouraged to use self-publishing on the internet or similar channels to communicate with the public directly, but should ensure that the rules on prior authorisation, conduct and behaviour, collective and personal security, use of official IT, data protection and communicating in public are followed."



A spokesman, however, expressed that soldiers are still allowed to access social networking sites as well as post blogs, but sensitive data should be kept confidential and unadvertised on the web.