May 18th, 2007
DOD says site blocking is only about bandwidth
Quite a hullabaloo over the Defense Dept’s shutdown of the world’s most popular websites, as reported here. Now the Pentagon is responding by sending out a top tech officer to explain the decision, The Washington Post reports.
Rear Adm. Elizabeth A. Hight, vice director of the Defense Information Systems Agency, explained that bandwidth concerns were the sole reason for locking out YouTube, MySpace and Live365, among many others.
Reporters questioned Hight about whether bandwidth usage had ever reached a point where military operations would be compromised. She said it had not, and characterized the department’s decision as “proactive.”
They asked her how much bandwidth was available on the military’s computer networks, a question she did not answer directly, instead turning to focus on the demands created by the sites. “We cannot accommodate the growth in bandwidth demands from these newer technologies,” she said.
One reporter wanted to know if it was hypocritical of the Defense Department to block access to Web sites it uses to recruit troops and to which it uploads its own videos of soldiers in Iraq. She simply replied, “No.”
Buy the bandwidth answer? Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) doesn’t. He called for a reversal of the policy when it was announced and yesterday, just minutes after the briefing, said he was not convinced of the bandwidth argument, since many other sites that are just as big bandwidth hogs are not blocked.
Not to worry, Hight says. More sites may be blocked.
