US Army General tells soldiers to blog and make YouTube videos

May 19, 2008 | By Andy Merrett | Filed Under Blogging, News, YouTube

While some sections of the US military face restrictions on Internet use, one Army General appears, at first glance, to contravene the security blocks put in place.

Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, head of the Combined Armed Center, and Fort Leavenworth, has encouraged blogging and the use of YouTube.

“Faculty and students will begin blogging as part of their curriculum and writing requirements both within the .mil and public environments. In addition CAC subordinate organizations will begin to engage in the blogosphere in an effort to communicate the myriad of activities that CAC is accomplishing and help assist telling the Army’s story to a wide and diverse audience,” he wrote in a recent memo.

He has already encouraged soldiers to send their YouTube videos to friends and family, even though the use of YouTube is officially banned on military networks, and blogging is severely restricted.

I’m sure, if we could dig deeper, there’d be reason behind this apparent contradiction. Presumably Lt. Gen. Caldwell doesn’t expect his students to start discussing classified information or shooting detailed videos for the whole world to see.

(Via WIRED)

About the author: Andy Merrett has worked in a variety of commercial and not-for-profit organisations in both administrative and technical roles, including web and database development, systems analysis and programming. He is now a full-time professional blogger, writing on a variety of subjects including consumer technology, the Internet, music, and society. He currently works on a number of Shiny Media titles including Tech Digest, HDTVUK, and iPhonic, and other projects including Piano & Synth and Family Relationships. He is a prolific Facebook user. Andy lives in London, England.

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