Marines ban Twitter, Facebook, other sites

reply to post by SPC_D


Aren't the Marines usually on base/ships?

I really don't know, not being an American.

Originally posted by CapsFan8

Originally posted by Exuberant1

Originally posted by WestPoint23
the military is not a democracy. We are here to preserve it, not to practice it.

Republic.

You are Here to Preserve the Constitutional Republic...

Idiots.

[edit on 5-8-2009 by Exuberant1]

See if the military doesn't understand this, what makes anyone think they understand how they're being used by the elite to further their agenda. How do you get someone to think killing defenseless brown people is saving the world? I see the same exact lines and talking points repeated without thought (a function of the training). They are being cut off from the popular psyche, basically turning our own troops into foreign troops.

Defenseless people? Not quite. I do however not agree with these wars even though Im a marine. A lot of military people don't agree with these wars but theres not much we can do about it.

[edit on 5-8-2009 by jeasahtheseer]

reply to post by spellbound


they are allot of places I am not a marine so I could not tell you the only interaction I had with them was when I was stationed in GITMO. OUT STANDING PEOPLE THE LOT OF THEM!

I am sure it isn't JUST security.

How much you wanna bet that the people at the top fear these fast publication social/media internet options because they don't want some soldier posting up a picture of him/herself posing by a mutilated or desecrated body of the "enemy"? Perhaps even a foreign civilian?

I know most would assume no soldier would be foolish enough to do so, but in an atmosphere where sharing such "trophies" is commonplace one may tend to forget how unacceptable it would be to the general public. There have been some issues with soldiers posting up some controversial images and stories online in past. There was a site a while ago giving free porn access to soldiers who swapped such images and if I remember correctly it got shut down fast.

For the most part the military decision makers would rather ignore the fact that these abuses take place, so long as they and the civilian public do not see them.

- Lee

Army order allows Facebook, Flickr on some stateside computers
By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, June 13, 2009
WASHINGTON — Army officials have ordered network managers at 81 U.S. locations to unblock Web sites such as Facebook, Flickr and Twitter as part of an effort to standardize access to the popular social networking tools.

im in the army and we can go to thies sites here is a link to the news page

The Corps just wants there people to be productive at work. Here would you want a man that lets say works on nuclear warheads for a job worry about what’s going on in twitter land or would you rather him consternate on there job at hand?

www.stripes.com...

[edit on 5-8-2009 by SPC_D]

I fail to see why our Marines need to be updating Twitter or looking at photo's on Facebook while serving.

IMO, it's good they banned the sites.

reply to post by Rockpuck


Even Marines like to keep in touch with their loved ones. Unlike the Soviets think we were not kept in cages and thrown raw meat once a day until battle.
How is that hard to understand?

reply to post by lee anoma


You have it straight. It is simply a public relations / information control strategy.

reply to post by CuriousSkeptic


I wouldn't support it for the army or air force, etc etc. But the Marines never do stuff like this for malicious reasons.

You can sleep well knowing that the marines do not do this for oppression, but to keep a tight network and closed society of well made men and women that it has always been.

Originally posted by Donnie Darko

Originally posted by WestPoint23

Originally posted by Donnie Darko
The fact you use the word "superiors" just screams that you are brainwashed.

A proper chain of command is crucial to the effective operation of any organization. How you chose to describe those with more authority than you is a moot point, they must be respected regardless. And as has been pointed out, the military is not a democracy. We are here to preserve it, not to practice it.

Yeah, perhaps I am overreacting. Now, if the US government blocked the sites to CIVILIANS, that would be a totally different story!

They are blocked if you're on a official DOD computer on the .mil domain, whether you're military or civilian. It also varies by service.

It doesn't apply to their personal computers on a commercial network.

Maybe it's the conspiracy theorist side of me, but this seems like a good way to disconnect our soldiers from their families, and friends, in an effort to brainwash them, and disenfranchise them from our society, so they can use them to implement their plans of martial law.

I understand and agree with their reasoning from the viewpoint of an employer, it would be best for them not to have a distractions like this, but I do not trust the people running the show from behind the curtain.

When you enter The Corps the process of conditioning is to modify your responses to situations and therefore is a form of brain washing.... In spite of it the Marines also allow for a person that takes the initiative to lead in a combat to do so regardless of rank.... It is a very strange society in many ways.

Marines know how to use computers? Well, you learn something new every day.


That being said, the AF has outlawed that stuff since Day One, I think. I know if I even think about plugging in a thumb drive or an iPod, a hand comes out of the screen and bitch-slaps me.

Everyone that has an opinion one way or the other is brainwashed.

If you side with the anti-government clique on ATS, you are labeled 'brainwashed' by the pro-government people.

If you side with the government, you are labeled brainwashed as well.

So much for Freedom of Speech, the most praised right of the American people.

Anyway, if you sign-up for the Marines, you sign your rights away to the Corps. That means if they decide to ban Twitter, you are banned from Twitter and there is nothing you can do to change that.

You are not a civilian any longer, so the Constitutional rights don't always apply, such as the beloved 1st Amendment. They have a chain of command for a reason, to get things done. The ones on the bottom must listen to the ones on top or there would be chaos. The tops say you can't do something, you'd better not do it.

If you don't want that to happen to you, don't sign your life away to the USMC. Making a deal with the devil never works out in your favor.

Ok, folks, here ya go. This isn't total censorship, it's not the raping of civil liberties. This is actually all about OPSEC, bandwidth takeup, and making sure Lance Corporals are being good little Marines and actually doing their job while the the administrative types are at the office. This restriction does NOT apply to the computers installed at MWR facilities in forward installations, although those ARE subject to "River City" blackouts. If anyone has any questions, fire away, and I'll elaborate.

U.S. Marine

[edit on 2009/8/16 by Griever0311]

Originally posted by Griever0311
Ok, folks, here ya go. This isn't total censorship, it's not the raping of civil liberties. This is actually all about OPSEC, bandwidth takeup, and making sure Lance Corporals are being good little Marines and actually doing their job while the the administrative types are at the office. This restriction does NOT apply to the computers installed at MWR facilities in forward installations, although those ARE subject to "River City" blackouts. If anyone has any questions, fire away, and I'll elaborate.

U.S. Marine

+1

The security risks involved with apps that can be downloaded in conjunction with those sites are extreme.

One compromised machine on a military network can be the gateway to infiltration on a wide scale.

This was a smart move that civilians should not be concerned with, especially those who have no idea about how insecure internet communications are on mainstream websites.

I'm going to have to agree with the opinion that the troops are just being more disconnected from their family. The military does not want them to communicate with their loved ones, and, keep the code of conduct that they already have untarnished even with the advent of these new sites. I would venture to say that the likelyhood of you getting killed probably would not increase though with the use of these sites. They might have done it for some reason like that they could post classified information and it could start a new kind of warfare- with enemies finding them on facebook or myspace but I think the primary reason is to cut them off from their loved ones or family. Although I do see this as a natural progression from the pen and paper age to the digital age. Why would they have to ban it?

Originally posted by Frankidealist35
I'm going to have to agree with the opinion that the troops are just being more disconnected from their family.

If that was the case, the military wouldn't have MWR computers for use at deployed locations, and Mail wouldn't be a priority.

Originally posted by Frankidealist35
I would venture to say that the likelyhood of you getting killed probably would not increase though with the use of these sites.

Would you want to bet your life on that?

Originally posted by Frankidealist35
They might have done it for some reason like that they could post classified information and it could start a new kind of warfare- with enemies finding them on facebook or myspace....

And we have a winner! They just don't want to have the troops broadcast something by mistake ("Hey, everyone! I'm going to Iraq!!")

And yes, foreign nations are collecting on Facebook, Myspace, etc.

Originally posted by Frankidealist35
I'm going to have to agree with the opinion that the troops are just being more disconnected from their family. The military does not want them to communicate with their loved ones, and, keep the code of conduct that they already have untarnished even with the advent of these new sites. I would venture to say that the likelyhood of you getting killed probably would not increase though with the use of these sites. They might have done it for some reason like that they could post classified information and it could start a new kind of warfare- with enemies finding them on facebook or myspace but I think the primary reason is to cut them off from their loved ones or family. Although I do see this as a natural progression from the pen and paper age to the digital age. Why would they have to ban it?

I already said this; the computers that use this network are not recreational machines. To put it into perspective, these are the machines that are sitting in company and battlalion offices with access to the NMCI network, in administration sites; not MWR facilities, or private computers in the barracks. It's the same as restricting web access on a corporation's office computers. It doesn't affect the workers at home. You can use those sites, even overseas, unless an information blackout is being enforced, for such reasons as a VIP visit, mass casualty event, etc.

[edit on 2009/8/16 by Griever0311]