Pentagon Blocks 13 Web Sites From Military Computers

Members of the military will not be allowed to use military computers to communicate through Web sites like YouTube and MySpace under restrictions that the Pentagon imposed yesterday.

The rule bans 13 sites, many of them networking, music or photo-sharing sites, because they have slowed the Internet network of the Defense Department, military officials said.

“This whole action is about freeing up space on the network,” said Mike Thiem, a spokesman for the Defense Information Systems Agency. “There was careful thought given to which sites were chosen. This was not an arbitrary decision by any means.”

Mr. Thiem said that the ban applied just to military computers and that soldiers and others were free to use the 13 sites, which include MTV.com, through personal computers or at private Internet cafes on military bases.

Sites that offer personal pages like MySpace and those that provide streaming audio and video feeds have long been blocked from Pentagon computers in Iraq and Afghanistan, military officials said. It is unclear how soldiers in war zones will be affected.

Critics said the policy represented the latest effort to control the deluge of information flowing from soldiers on the battlefield.

“The Army has been flooded with young soldiers who have laptops, iPods, digital cameras, recorders, and that has put the fear of god into some of the generals,” said Matthew Burden, an Army veteran who writes a widely read military blog, www.Blackfive.net.

Mr. Burden said the Army recently tightened restrictions on soldiers with blogs, requiring them to register their blogs and submit content for review.

“I think all of these restrictions are going to end up blocking the connection we have to the war zone, which is unfortunate,” he said.

Becky Davis, whose son is serving in Iraq, helps write a blog for the group Military Families Voice of Victory. As part of the blog, Ms. Davis occasionally provides YouTube links to reports that she thinks soldiers will find interesting. She said she was unsure whether the links would be blocked.

“I am concerned about how this directive is going to impact the families,” Ms. Davis said.

Another former soldier said the major effect would be on morale overseas.

“These sites are like modern-day forms of writing letters, the same sorts of letters that soldiers in the trench holes in World War II wrote,” said Corey Robinson, 22, who served a total of 20 months in Iraq and Afghanistan in the Army.

“When we were able to use the Internet, there was a huge difference in our morale,” Mr. Robinson said.

Mr. Thiem said the ban would hardly hamper communication between battlefront and homefront. He emphasized that, in addition to Internet cafes and their own computers, soldiers could also use regulated portals to speak with friends and family at home.

“There are alternative ways of communicating with loved ones,” Mr. Thiem said. “No one is trying to prevent that from happening.”