by Frank Paynter on May 5, 2007
by Frank Paynter on May 5, 2007
Some military bloggers are pissed that the Army Regulation 530-1 has been beefed up to deal with security issues related to blogging. The reg is not just about blogging. It deals with other public electronic communications like unencrypted email too.
I’m surprising myself by agreeing with the Army. “Loose lips sink ships.” Well, maybe I’m agreeing with the Navy. Whatever. It’s about Operational Security in a war zone.
My agreement is based on the difference between the military and civilian life. When you’re in the army, they own your ass. You are governed by military law, not civilian statutes. The army is not a democracy, it mandates discipline, and its regulations can look arbitrary. There is no draft, so if you’re in the army, you pretty much chose to be there (give or take the exigencies of family tradition, patriotism, duty, honor, class, poverty, race, and other limits to opportunity or ethical concerns in civilian life that might force the choice). When you’re there you follow army regulations. All that said, there is some powerful discussion about why milblogs are better than no milblogs at the Army Times and at Wired News. Some other good links on the subject include
Dadmanly’s coverage of the milblogging conference that ended today.
Ana Marie Cox’s post.
The Army’s response, via Andi.
