Israeli soldiers using Facebook to face restrictions
Tuesday, April 15, 2008 Free Headline Alerts
TEL AVIV — Israel's military is cracking down on Internet use by combat soldiers.
In April, the Defense Ministry and military drafted restrictions for Facebook, a social network that includes photographs, videos and e-mail addresses. More than one percent of Americans in Israel's military were reported to have joined Facebook.
Officials said registration by military personnel for Internet services could expose them to hostile agents.
"Today, the Internet is the easiest way to find somebody and obtain his identity," an official said. "We can't afford that."
Officials said Hamas and Hizbullah have been trained by Iran to identify and target Israeli soldiers and defense officials through the Internet. They said soldiers, particularly in the standing army, have been lax in communicating in chat rooms and other forums.
Under the new regulations, soldiers could create pages on Facebook. But officials said the soldiers were prohibited from identifying themselves as working for the military.
Officials said the restrictions were imposed after soldiers posted had photographs of themselves posing with Israeli military equipment. Some of the equipment was said to have been classified.