Tuesday, April 15, 2008

IDF on Facebook

At first, when I glanced at the spattering of links in my Google alerts (seriously, what did I do before them?) and saw the word "Facebook," I just assumed it had to do with renaming Israeli neighborhoods in the West Bank as part of Palestine. But, I was wrong.

Like any other member of Facebook, IDF soliders, both former and current, post pictures online. In their case, however, they're exposing the Israeli Army because of information leaks: interiors of army bases, weapons, locations, etc. The Jerusalem Post took it upon themselves to investigate this and, as a courtesy to the IDF, printed only a few of those Facebook pictures along the article.

Several Israeli Defense departments sent out notices to all IDF soliders, telling them to take out any classified information from their profiles. They worry that, since Facebook is basically open to anyone, that those within the Israel network will use that information to their advantage. IDF soliders that exposed extremely classified information were sent to jail for a month.

Yes, it's true you have to be careful with these materials, but I think this is a bit out there. It reminds me of New York City's apparent policy about recording or taking pictures of bridges or transportation.

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