• The Washington Post, Friday, May 18, 2007 11:30 AM

Earlier this week, the U.S. Defense Department said it would block access to sites like YouTube and MySpace as part of a wider effort to gain greater control of the content consumed on its network. The Feds cited bandwidth consumption as its reason for blocking social media, music and photo-sharing sites -- 13 in all.

Reporters grilled Rear Admiral Elizabeth Hight on the decision, asking her how much bandwidth the military has available and whether usage had ever compromised military operations. She evaded the first question and said no to the second. Nevertheless, Hight said, "We cannot accommodate the growth in bandwidth demands from these newer technologies." She added that soldiers have not been banned from going to these sites, but they can no longer access them over the military's network.

A few weeks ago, the Defense Department told U.S. soldiers around the globe that email, blog messages and anything else posted to the Web would have to be approved by a senior officer before being sent. The organization said it wanted to protect against the possibility of sensitive information being posted online. Skeptics said the government wants to keep soldiers from reflecting negatively on the U.S. campaign in Iraq. They will likely say this week's decision is another move in the same direction.

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