Concerned with
enemies infiltrating soldier's social media accounts, the Israel Defense Forces
puts the kibosh on social networking for classified and sensitive units.
Official IDF Twitter account
(Credit: IDF)
Fearing that enemy forces are gathering information on Israeli soldiers
from social media, the Israel Defense Forces has decided to ban social network
from some high-ranking soldiers and severely limit it for others.
The IDF is in the middle of drafting a "social networking code of
ethics" that will ban the use of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other
social media for all highly classified units, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Other sensitive units, like pilots and
intelligence officers, will be allowed to have social media accounts but won't
be able to say they're soldiers or upload any photos showing themselves in
uniform.
"Social networks are a means of communication and a means of creating
experiences today," a senior officer in the Operations Directorate told
Haaretz. "We don't intend on making the army impenetrable or shady, but we
know there is potential for harm."
The officer said that much of the intelligence information collected on
the IDF is nabbed from social networking sites. The military has also said that
it discovered phony Facebook profiles made in the names of certain high-ranking
commanders.
Israel is not the first country to be concerned with enemies infiltrating
soldier's Facebook accounts. The Canadian military has warned soldiers about the dangers of posting personal photos
and information on social-networking sites because Al Qaeda operatives could be
watching. Australia has also cautioned its military about possible Taliban
fighters spying on soldiers via Facebook.
Paradoxically, as an organization,
the IDF is quite active on social media. Besides a big presence on Facebook,
the military has also used Twitter to live-tweet skirmishes and battles against
Palestinian Hamas fighters. In November, the IDF Twitter stream included the video recording of a missile attack
that killed Hamas military leader Ahmed Jabari.
Social media has also caused quite a bit of embarrassment for the IDF.
There have been several scandals of soldiers posting videos to YouTube and photos to Facebook
showing abuse toward Palestinians. In 2010, a female soldier named Eden Abergil
uploaded a photo to Facebook showing her smiling
face in front of a group of blindfolded and bound Palestinian prisoners,
according to Haaretz. And, in February, another soldier put a photo on Instagram showing a Palestinian boy in
his sniper rifle's crosshairs.
The IDF's "social networking code of ethics" is scheduled to be
released by the end of June. (source: cnet)
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