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Army Blogging Banned

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in Politics & Debate
The Ministry of Defence has decided to ban members of the armed forces writing blogs about their experiences and opinions, and sending text messages, without them first being approved by them. Story. Thoughts? Are they afraid that people might actually get an insight into the realities of the things the government are doing?

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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Typically stupid posturing by MoD. The 1% of stupid things soldiers post are outweighted by 99%, and disclosure of security information always been covered...
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    doesnt suprise me. I thought it would have already been banned tbh
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Have I missed something here? Have the brain-dead morons who run the MoD woken up one morning and suddenly decided it's 1916, and that our troops are actually in trenches in the middle of France? Looks like history is repeating itself, only in a slightly more modern form.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    stargalaxy wrote: »
    Have I missed something here? Have the brain-dead morons who run the MoD woken up one morning and suddenly decided it's 1916, and that our troops are actually in trenches in the middle of France? Looks like history is repeating itself, only in a slightly more modern form.

    Aye, you know all about 1916 don't you? :D
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yerascrote wrote: »
    Aye, you know all about 1916 don't you? :D

    Wasn't that when the 36th Ulster Division won four of the nine VCs on the opening day of the Somme? ;)
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    when was the army ever about freedom of expression? !!
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Haven't they had something like this simila for a while now? I'm sure my uncle said (he's in the navy, but I would assume the rules are the same) that when talking to someone, you can't mention dates, even when it's just someone saying something like the date of someone's birthday.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    otter wrote: »
    when was the army ever about freedom of expression? !!

    Well in that case, they should say "no texts or blogs" not, "you can send texts and write blogs, once the MoD have decided it fits the party line." Provided they're not leaking confidential information about their operations (and I can't remember a case of that occuring during this war), I don't see the issue with soldiers being able to give their opinion in a blog.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Jonny8888 wrote: »
    doesnt suprise me. I thought it would have already been banned tbh

    The army are quite strict about certain information being disclosed. My friend who is Afganistan at the moment has to burn all addresses/personal information she gets sent and the packages she gets sent are liable to be opened en route. Her letters home can be opened and censored as well if the Army see fit.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    When they say about "Blogging and sending text messages about military matters is now banned without permission" I presume they mean important things like operations, and I doubt many soliders write home about that stuff anyway though.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Its overkill... There's always been rules about operational security - which are perfectly adequate. Post a blog giving out details of the upcoming hit on the Taliban and at best you'll be having an interview without coffee and at worst you'll find yourself in jail.

    What it stops are soldiers griping on websites about poor equipment, the ignorance of Govt Ministers et al. And whilst that may be good for the Labour Party it's probably not so good for the rest of us. As an example Labour changed the rules on soldiers voting and made a right cock up of it. If serving soldiers hadn't been posting about it on the web MoD would have been able to sweep it under the carpet and pretend nothing had happened. As it was they were forced to make improvements...
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