April 27, 2007:
MySpace (with over 150 million
users) has become a popular way for American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to
keep in touch with the folks back home, and with each other. The ease-of-use
that has made MySpace so popular with civilians, is equally attractive to
troops who don't have much time to spend on the Internet. Most troops in Iraq
and Afghanistan have access to the Internet, but via the equivalent of a
dial-up connection. So MySpace is convenient enough for troops to quickly post
messages, pictures and short videos.
The brass are not happy with all this MySpace use,
but are reluctant to try and crack down. The troops can be hard to identify, if
they want to be, and have proved to be very responsible when it comes to OPSEC
(Operational Security, not giving out info that can help the enemy).
