Showing posts with label Twitter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Twitter. Show all posts

Monday, April 15, 2019

POTUS wants snooping on disabled vets who look too happy?

Disability Advocate Slams White House’s Veteran Surveillance Plan


The Hill
BY TODD NEIKIRK
April 15, 2019

Republicans have long presented themselves as the unquestioned pro-military political party. In the last few months, however, conservatives have been targeting veteran benefits. Fox News hosts, Brian Kilmeade and Pete Hegseth, got in on the act recently, taking aim at vets who they believe to be claiming too many benefits.

The White House has recently taken aim at former troops as well, creating a new social media surveillance policy. According to the New York Times, the Social Security administration is on the look out for disabled vets who look too happy.

Lawyer, Robert Crowe, says, “There is a little bitty chance that Social Security may be snooping on your Facebook or your Twitter account. You don’t want anything on there that shows you out playing Frisbee.”
read more here

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

VoteVets Blocked by POTUS?

VoteVets


Since Inauguration Day, no organization has more forcefully or effectively taken on President Trump. Whether it's the ads on his favorite morning shows or the voices of veterans we've helped to resist his dangerous agenda... this morning, the President of the United States had enough of VoteVets, and he acted on the impulse.
This morning, President Trump, the Commander in Chief, blocked VoteVets on Twitter.
Here's the truth, Trump can block VoteVets on Twitter, the voice of 500,000 progressive veterans, military family members, and their civilian supporters, but we will NOT be silenced. Stand with us today:
Like General Wesley Clark says, there is no organization more decisive in a fight than VoteVets. We are one of the few out there who have actually scored political victories against this administration. But we can't do it alone. That's why your $3 donation towards our work elevating the voices of veterans against Trump is so important.
Thank you for your continued support.
All my best,
Jon Soltz
Iraq War Veteran & Chairman
VoteVets

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Tenacity and Twitter Help Vietnam Veteran Buddies Connect After 50 Years

Vietnam Veteran Reunited With War Buddy 50 Years After Losing Touch, Thanks to Twitter
Inside Edition
by Johanna Li
April 11, 2017

It’s been 50 years since a Vietnam veteran spoke to his long lost friend, but thanks to Twitter, the pair has been reunited once again.

Charles Lacy, an army photographer during the Vietnam War, will get the chance to reconnect with an old friend he met in the army through Skype after they lost touch shortly after serving in South Korea in 1968.

The reunion comes after a massive social media effort run by 19-year-old Bryce Lacy of Texas to track down his dad’s army connection Kermit Powers.

"You can use [social media] for good things and help people reconnect and bring happiness to people," Bryce told InsideEdition.com.

He said it all started when he spotted Powers’ picture in his dad’s house one summer. The next time he saw it, he decided to ask his dad about it.
read more here


Monday, October 10, 2016

North Carolina Veteran Saved From Flood By Brother, Twitter and Stranger with Drone

Brother uses Twitter to save veteran, dog in Matthew flooding
KHOU
October 10, 2016

HOPE MILLS, NC - A worried brother and a man with a drone used the power of social media to save someone trapped in their house.

Craig Williams was worried about his brother, Chris, and contacted WFMY News 2 early Sunday morning. Chris Williams is a Navy veteran with a dog who cannot swim in Cumberland County. He was stuck in his house because of Hurricane Matthew flooding.

We called Cumberland County 911 and they said they were working on getting someone to help, but could not get there due to the flooding.

Little did Craig know, a man posting drone pictures on social media could help.

Searching through #HopeMills on Twitter, the city his brother lives in, he found a drone picture of homes almost completely flooded.

Trying to cheer up his brother he sends this picture and teases him that at least this isn't his house.
read more here

Sunday, March 20, 2016

Facebook and Twitter Users Help Fight Military Suicides

The military's suicide-prevention fight has moved to Facebook and Twitter
Military Times
Patricia Kime
March 20, 2016
“If it wasn’t for social media, we never would have known what was going on in his head and he would have gone through with [suicide],” Boyd told Military Times during a phone interview from Uganda, where he is deployed with Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force Crisis Response-Africa.

The Defense Department as been at the forefront of some notable suicide research, especially in the realm of social media.
(Photo: DoD)

Marine Corps Sgt. Raheem Boyd was in his barracks room at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, last May when a friend sent him an urgent message through Facebook. Another Marine had made some troubling posts, and while Boyd can’t recall the exact words, they hinted at suicide.

“It seemed strange," he recalled. "Just didn’t seem right."

Boyd, who knew the Marine from a previous assignment in Okinawa, immediately looked up the command’s phone number, dialed the duty office and headed to find the devil dog. The Marine’s barracks room was empty but a search was underway. Someone spotted him in his car in the parking lot with an assault rifle beside him. But as the searchers approached the vehicle, the troubled service member took off.
The Defense Department has not released an official tally of suicides among active-duty troops in 2015, but a Pentagon source with access to the data said the number was close to 290, including the 28 confirmed suicides by Marines from January through October. While the number of active-duty suicides has remained somewhat steady since it reached a peak of 321 in 2012, the rate — nearly 20 per 100,000 troops in 2014 — remains significantly higher than before Sept. 11, 2001, when it hovered around 10 per 100,000 service members, and the military appeared to offer protective measures against a rising suicide trend in the U.S. civilian population.
read more here

The math doesn't work on that part unless they are not adding in the National Guards and Reservists.

First Quarter
In the first quarter of 2015, there were 57 suicides among service members in the active component, 15 suicides among service members in the reserve component and 27 suicides among service members in the National Guard. (99)
Second Quarter
In the second quarter of 2015, there were 71 suicides among service members in the active component, 20 suicides among service members in the reserve component and 27 suicides among service members in the National Guard. (118)
Third Quarter
In the third quarter of 2015, there were 72 suicides among service members in the active component, and 70 suicides in the reserve component, which includes 38 suicides among reserve service members and 32 suicides among service members in the National Guard. (142)

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Canadian Troops Learned of Suicide by Tweet

Jason Kenney's tweet confirming soldier's death sparked anger, frustration 
OTTAWA CITIZEN
LEE BERTHIAUME
Published on: March 2, 2015
“Yeah, thanks to Jason Kenney!?!?” Perry wrote. “How is he tweeting this before the (chain of command). My soldiers had to find out from CBC.”
Canadian reservist Cpl. Nathan Cirillo is pictured in an undated photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Facebook
THE CANADIAN PRESS
Internal emails show a minister’s tweet sparked confusion, frustration and anger as Cpl. Nathan Cirillo’s comrades learned about the Canadian soldier’s death on Oct. 22 from news reports rather than through official military channels.

Cirillo was standing guard with another soldier in front of the National War Memorial shortly before 10 a.m. that morning when a lone gunman shot him in the back. The gunman then drove to Parliament Hill and rushed through the main doors of the Centre Block, where he was killed in a shootout with RCMP officers and Hill security staff.

The unprecedented attack prompted an immediate lockdown of military and federal institutions across Canada, amid fears of a co-ordinated assault on Ottawa and an absence of concrete information.
But 15 minutes later, at 1:40 p.m., then-employment minister Jason Kenney became the first to confirm that the 24-year-old reservist had died, tweeting: “Condolences to family of the soldier killed, & prayers for the Parliamentary guard wounded.” Kenney has since been named defence minister.

The minister’s comment sparked a flurry of news reports. In response, Sgt. Tim Perry of the Canadian Forces’ Ceremonial Guards emailed his commanding officer, Maj. Michel Lavigne, at 1:53 p.m., saying: “I need a padre and confirmation if Cpl. (Cirillo) is dead or not. My guys are learning from CBC on his status.”
read more here

Monday, January 12, 2015

Soldiers and Families Threatened After CENTCOM hacked

Hackers hit CENTCOM sites, reveal contact info and issue threats 
Stars and Stripes
By Travis J. Tritten
Published: January 12, 2015
22 minutes ago
WASHINGTON — Hackers claiming to be with the militant group Islamic State took control of U.S. Central Command’s Twitter feed and YouTube channel Monday, posting threats to servicemembers and contact information of military staff and retired brass.

The postings lasted about 30 minutes and included what appeared to be a contact roster for U.S. Army Forces Command at Fort Bragg and other commands, the cell phone numbers and home addresses of some retired generals, and maps of North Korea and China. Stars and Stripes could not immediately verify if the documents were authentic.

On CENTCOM’s YouTube channel, the hackers uploaded Islamic State propaganda videos and footage of the group’s fighters. When contacted Monday, a CENTCOM spokeswoman said the command was still gathering information on the hacks. “We can confirm that the CENTCOM Twitter and YouTube accounts were compromised earlier today,” the command said in a released statement.

“We are taking appropriate measures to address the matter. We have no further information to provide at this time.
read more here

Saturday, December 27, 2014

Sinister side of social media depression app

Ok, so what sounded like a good idea to many made the hair stand up on the back of too many necks when it involves using social media to predict depression.

Let's get honest here. I use Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus for Wounded Times but on a personal level, I don't get into any of them very often. I just don't have time. I work a full time job for a paycheck and then full time on tracking news reports. A lot of people I talk to don't use social media because their friends share everything from what they just ate for lunch to how many times their baby needed a diaper change.

Then there are people with a lot of "friends" on their list they don't know and real friends too busy to read every keystroke. What is worse is when someone does unload how they're feeling and no one responds.

There are times when social media pulls someone out of a huge jam, solves problems and changes lives for the better but most of the time, people end up wondering why no one cares about them or why they are not one of the chosen to receive what others get. It isn't how many friends you have, but what kind of friends you have that makes the difference in life.

There were some cases of depressed veterans with PTSD being talked off the ledge because of Facebook and it even happened a few times to servicemembers. Most of the time, it doesn't happen at all.

There are great sites with experts working on PTSD and proper peer support but then there are far too many with hacks more interested in their own glory pushing their followers to believe garbage tossed at them as if they have the answers to all the problems in life.

Now there is a far darker side to what sounded like a good idea and that how depressed people reaching out for help can be left victimized with no assurance from anyone.

The CDC already knew depression levels by state but what they don't mention is, after all these years they still haven't come up with a way of addressing clinical depression and that is in itself depressing.
CDC Data and Statistics
Feature: An Estimated 1 in 10 U.S. Adults Current Depression Among Adults
United States, 2006 and 2008. MMWR 2010;59(38);1229-1235. 
(this map includes revised state estimates)

Risks in Using Social Media to Spot Signs of Mental Distress
New York Times
By NATASHA SINGER
DEC. 26, 2014
For one thing, said Dr. Allen J. Frances, a psychiatrist who is a professor emeritus at Duke University School of Medicine, crude predictive health algorithms would be likely to mistake someone’s articulation of distress for clinical depression, unfairly labeling swaths of people as having mental health disorders.

For another thing, he said, if consumers felt free to use unvalidated diagnostic apps on one another, it could potentially pave the way for insurers and employers to use such techniques covertly as well — with an attendant risk of stigmatization and discrimination.

The Samaritans, a well-known suicide-prevention group in Britain, recently introduced a free web app that would alert users whenever someone they followed on Twitter posted worrisome phrases like “tired of being alone” or “hate myself.”

A week after the app was introduced on its website, more than 4,000 people had activated it, the Samaritans said, and those users were following nearly 1.9 million Twitter accounts, with no notification to those being monitored. But just about as quickly, the group faced an outcry from people who said the app, called Samaritans Radar, could identify and prey on the emotionally vulnerable — the very people the app was created to protect.

“A tool that ‘lets you know when your friends need support’ also lets you know when your stalking victim is vulnerable #SamaritansRadar,” a Briton named Sarah Brown posted on Twitter. A week and a half after the app’s introduction, the Samaritans announced it was reconsidering the outreach program and disabled the app.

Munmun De Choudhury, an assistant professor at Georgia Tech. Credit Amber Fouts for The New York Times Social media posts offer a vast array of information — things as diverse as clues about the prevalence of flu, attitudes toward smoking and patterns of prescription drug abuse. Academic researchers, often in partnership with social media platforms, have mined this data in the hopes of gaining more timely insights into population-scale health trends. The National Institutes of Health, for instance, recently committed more than $11 million to support studies into using sites like Twitter and Facebook to better understand, prevent and treat substance abuse.
Dr. Eric Horvitz, the director of the Microsoft Research lab at Redmond, Wash., said his group’s studies demonstrated the potential for using social media as a tool to measure population-level depression patterns — as a complement to more traditional research methods.

“We could compute the unhappiest places in the United States,” Dr. Horvitz said. He added that social media analysis might also eventually be used to identify patterns of post-traumatic stress disorder immediately after events like tsunamis or terrorist attacks. “You can see the prospect of watching a news story break and using these tools to map the pulse of society,” he said.

But researchers generally agreed that it was premature to apply such nascent tools to individuals.

“People always ask, ‘Can you predict who is going to try to commit suicide?’ ” said Dr. Dredze, the Johns Hopkins researcher. “I think that’s way beyond what anyone can do.”
read more here

I buried a lot of people in my lifetime and most of the time I was depressed as hell about it. My ex-husband tried to kill me our last night together and after that level of betrayal, it crossed my mind that I didn't deserve to live. That was over 30 years ago before I met my current husband. Imagine if we had the internet back then. What would have happened if I actually shared that feeling online? Would my boss find out about what I managed to keep secret from him? What would he have done if he knew? I worked hard for him and he trusted my judgement but I have a feeling he would have treated me differently if he had known what I was going through.

It is up to me who I share things with and up to my judgement to decide if I trust them or not. I don't expect them to share my secrets with anyone the same way I cannot share secrets at all as a Chaplain. To think that someone I don't know is tracking what I tell a friend on Facebook makes me sick to my stomach. It limits what I do share and considering my profile has been viewed over 10 million times while Wounded Times reaches people around the world, I am picky what I share in the first place. As for the rest of it, there is always email and the thing called a phone people used to speak into instead of thumbing through life as if they are communicating.

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

US Soldier's Families Targets of Jihadist Tweets

Soldiers’ families and homes may be IS targets
The Army Times
October 6, 2014
An image made available on a jihadist website this summer shows militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant with the trademark Jihadists flag in Iraq. U.S. officials are concerned IS supporters may attack Americans in the States.
(Photo: AFP/Getty Images )


Soldiers and their families should be warned the Islamic State is calling on its followers in the United States to use social media sites to “find the addresses of service members, show up (at their homes) and slaughter them,” according to the Army Threat Integration Center.

“ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) has called on lone offenders in the U.S. to use the “yellow pages,” social media sites like Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter to find the addresses,” states the ARTIC special assessment published Sept. 25.

The warning is “based on a law enforcement bulletin citing a jihadist tweet,” ARTIC states.

Fort Campbell officials did not return calls seeking comment on Monday.

After U.S. began air strikes in Iraq in August and Syria in late September, IS supporters launched a Twitter campaign threatening to retaliate with violence in the U.S., according to the report.

“A recent audio message from an ISIL spokesman called, for the first time, for lone offender attacks in the homeland in retaliation for U.S. military operations in Iraq and Syria,” the ARTIC report states.

“According to the US government as many as 300 Americans are fighting with ISIL. ... There is concern that these Americans could return to the U.S. and commit attacks using the skills they learned overseas.”
read more here

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Fort Gordon Soldier Sent Racist-Anti Veteran Tweets

Fort Gordon Soldier Accused of Racist, Anti-Veteran Tweets
WJBF
By Deon Guillory
WJBF GMA Weekend Anchor/Reporter
Posted: Sep 30, 2014

Fort Gordon, GA - An investigation is happening on Fort Gordon after a soldier is accused of tweeting out some controversial messages.

The soldier's tweets are being called racist and anti-veteran.

Fort Gordon won't identify the soldier, so we are not saying her name.

Veterans are weighing in on the matter.

Some are questioning a Fort Gordon soldier's love of the red, white and blue because of her behavior on social media.

She appears to have posted some anti-American rants on twitter.

One reads, "I ain't in the army cus I care about my country. I don't give a f about y'all."

Another reads "I don't wear my uniform anywhere except on base. Veterans annoying."

WJBF News Channel 6's Deon Guillory showed the tweets to Veterans at an American Legion Post.

"When you talk about our veterans and that you have no caring for them and this and that. To me that makes you a good candidate for ISIS," said Terry Dohman who is Vietnam Veteran.
read more here
WJBF-TV ABC 6 Augusta-Aiken

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Learning from Twitter Veterans with PTSD Tweets

One more thing worth thinking about when you read this article about a study on PTSD and tweets is the US military has been cutting troops, leaving them unemployed. That isn't the worst. They lost a part of who they are on top of that.

For far too many, this is all they ever wanted to do with their lives. It was part of who they are. Far more attached to their jobs than anyone else, these career choices came with being ready to die on the job. Military life is part of their identity.
Tracking traces of depression and PTSD in tweets
Beta Boston
Nidhi Subbaraman
7 DAYS AGO

Losing a job can take a toll on mental health. That’s a case that’s been made time and again.

For the first time, researchers are showing that this relationship can be seen in the geo-tagged tweets sent by Americans across the country.

At the Joint Statistical Meeting held in Boston last week, researchers from the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center and Johns Hopkins University presented early evidence that counties in the U.S. with higher rates of unemployment also had a higher proportion of Twitter users with depression-signifying language in their tweets.

That isn’t all. In counties with high populations of veterans, more Twitter users showed traces of post-traumatic stress disorder in their public posts. Counties with a lower median household income had a higher proportion of people who had tweets with signs of depression.
read more here

Linked from
Twitter opens a window on depression and PTSD Boston Globe AUGUST 19, 2014

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Social Media Army of friends

To my Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn friends Wounded Times needs your help. As you know I track reports about our troops and veterans across the country. Since I have been doing temp jobs to pay the bills, my time has been cutback on the site, so I am missing too many stories. All of you are scattered across the country so if you find something in your local news sources, please send me a link. I would rather read something ten times than miss an important story. Email me woundedtimes@aol.com so we can make sure they get the attention they deserve. Lord only knows why the major media groups are no longer interested in them.

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

War to home Christmas letters saved for history, re-tweet

War to home Christmas letters saved for history, re-tweet
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
December 25, 2012

At first I thought how lousy it was that so much history is being lost with the technology we have now. Thousands of tweets sent back and forth between the troops and families, pictures and videos replacing hand written accounts of what they are thinking and praying for.

Then I thought about more.

Technology provides us with instant communication across thousands of miles. Could you imagine George Washington sending a tweet crossing the Delaware?

George Washington's Christmas Crossing The weather is cold, but not as cold as it was on this day in 1776, when a raging blizzard tormented the tattered remnants of Washington’s volunteer army.

Back then, there was no one to witness either the misery or the bravery of this heroic band. Today thousands of spectators from all over the world, many dressed in period clothing, are here to watch Rinaldi’s Washington and his men re-enact the event credited with saving the republic.

“These are the times that try men’s souls,” Rinaldi begins, solemnly intoning the words from Thomas Paine’s American Crisis, as Washington did to rally his cold and hungry troops. Parents hush small children; conversation drops to a respectful murmur. “The summer soldier and sunshine patriot, will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country, but he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman...”


Think of all the history that would have been lost. How about during WWI when there was a truce between sides. Imagine them on a cell phone later that day taking instant pictures as their wives sent them back pictures of the kids opening their gifts.
The Christmas Truce
On January 1, 1915, the London Times published a letter from a major in the Medical Corps reporting that in his sector the British played a game against the Germans opposite and were beaten 3-2.

Kurt Zehmisch of the 134th Saxons recorded in his diary: 'The English brought a soccer ball from the trenches, and pretty soon a lively game ensued. How marvellously wonderful, yet how strange it was. The English officers felt the same way about it. Thus Christmas, the celebration of Love, managed to bring mortal enemies together as friends for a time.'

The Truce lasted all day; in places it ended that night, but on other sections of the line it held over Boxing Day and in some areas, a few days more. In fact, there parts on the front where the absence of aggressive behaviour was conspicuous well into 1915.


I was reading this when I got onto the computer early this morning and thought about Christmas letters being sent home from war.

From war with love: Christmas letters home span centuries but hit same notes
By Bill Briggs
NBC News contributor

Across three pages — typed on Christmas Eve 1966 from a village in South Vietnam — the soldier’s words to his wife dance seamlessly from a description of singing carols in the jungle to his latest enemy kills to, finally, a vow of eternal affection.

“Last night we had a candle-lighting ceremony ... Gasoline drums welded together end to end with a white Noel on the side. Electric light on top covered by red cellophane ... Reindeer and Santa Claus at front. It was raining,” Army Gen. Sidney B. Berry wrote to his wife. He next reveals how he recently had perched in a helicopter door, firing his rifle at men below: “We all were shooting. And we killed several ...”

“Lovely Anne, I love thee,” Berry closed. “Perhaps the best aspect of this whole period of separation is our increased appreciation and understanding of each other. I love thee, and I will devote the rest of my life to making love to thee.” He signs off: “Thy wearied professional, Sid.”

This time of year, communication from combat lines has long provided a poignant piece of Christmas.
From the Civil War to the Vietnam War, troops ranging from privates to a general struck the same literary chords — no matter the success of their conflict, their era, or the location of their last battle. They often chronicle violence during a moment meant to celebrate peace. They typically express humor, perhaps to put families at ease. And they reveal yearnings to be back with gathered families and friends.

“A lot of people wrote letters to their mothers at Christmas. I guess it’s a time you really start to think about home, really start to think about where you come from,” said Conrad Crane, chief of historical services at the Army Heritage and Education Center.

Some of the letters offered to NBC News were were originally mailed to nieces, parents and wives.
read more here


With technology comes problems. Computers crash, accounts get canceled and files are not saved. There is a lot of history being lost when people don't think of how important all of this is to future generations. Save what you have so that generations from now will learn what we have learned from hand written letters. Print emails, make copies of pictures and save them so that when your children grow up they can learn. We all know we are not getting enough information from the media these days on what is happening in Afghanistan so you are the one to save their voices. Don't just trust Facebook to save all your files because one day they could be just as irrelevant as a lot of sites we used to use.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Social media creates spokesmen at Camp Lejeune

Social media creates spokesmen
August 9, 2012
Camp Lejeune Globe
Lance Cpl. Jackeline M. Perez Rivera
Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune

Marines use social media the same way everybody else does, said Sgt. Mark Fayloga, Headquarters Marine Corps head of Social Media. Through Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Hi5, MySpace, Flickr, Reddit and many more, Marines connect and interact with people and ideas across a wide variety of avenues.

Social media gives people numerous ways to share any detail of their lives. The military community has used those resources to blog about their wartime experiences. YouTube videos have landed Marines dates and brought smiles back home through groups’ renditions of popular songs matched to complicated choreography.

Questions can be posted and answered by not only everyone in the Marines’ social network, but their friends’ social networks as well. They can find people willing to share their experience about a duty station, a job or a temporary additional billet such as recruiter or Drill Instructor.

“(With social media) you can be the voice of the Marine Corps,” said Fayloga. “You can share your story.”

Social media can serve as a soapbox to present information and opinions, or it can provide an interactive experience to can help clarify misinformation.

However, it’s very important to cite sources, said Capt. Joshua Smith, the Deputy Public Affairs Officer of Marine Corps Installation East – Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. Without proper citation it’s just an opinion, he added.

Social media can also make anyone a micro-journalist, said Smith.
read more here

Friday, April 20, 2012

Fake sites target reporter, editor covering DoD

Fake sites target reporter, editor covering DoD
By Gregory Korte - USA Today
Posted : Thursday Apr 19, 2012

WASHINGTON — A USA Today reporter and editor investigating Pentagon propaganda contractors have themselves been subjected to a propaganda campaign of sorts, waged on the Internet through a series of bogus websites.

Fake Twitter and Facebook accounts have been created in their names, along with a Wikipedia entry and dozens of message board postings and blog comments. Websites were registered in their names.

The timeline of the activity tracks USA Today’s reporting on the military’s “information operations” program, which spent hundreds of millions of dollars on marketing campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan — campaigns that have been criticized even within the Pentagon as ineffective and poorly monitored.

For example, Internet domain registries show the website TomVandenBrook.com was created Jan. 7 — just days after Pentagon reporter Tom Vanden Brook first contacted Pentagon contractors involved in the program. Two weeks after his editor Ray Locker’s byline appeared on a story, someone created a similar site, RayLocker.com, through the same company.
read more here

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Marines lift social media ban

Marines lift social media ban
By Warren Peace, Stars and Stripes
European Edition, Wednesday, March 31, 2010
STUTTGART, Germany — The Marine Corps lifted its ban on social media sites Monday, allowing Marines from Japan to the States to sign on to YouTube, Facebook and Twitter and other sites.

But it looks like European-based Marines — along with other troops in Europe — will have to wait a little longer: As of Tuesday, servicemembers in Europe were still unable to log onto the sites from their government computers.

The Defense Department had lifted the ban on social networking sites in late February, but Army and Air Force officials in Europe said earlier this month they were trying to determine the best way to proceed.

“Local commanders still have to weigh security risk and bandwidth issues in their area of operation,” Chris Joseph, a spokesman for U.S. Army Europe’s 5th Signal Command said at the time.

The day after the Marines reversed their position, one official spoke about maintaining a transparency with the American public.
read more here
Marines lift social media ban

Friday, March 19, 2010

Actresses Demi Moore, Nia Vardalos save teen via Twitter

Actresses Demi Moore, Nia Vardalos use Twitter to stave off suicide attempt in Casselberry

The Associated Press

11:17 a.m. EDT, March 19, 2010


CASSELBERRY — Actresses Demi Moore and Nia Vardalos were linked to an online chain of Twitter posts that ultimately led to Florida authorities intervening when a young man threatened to commit suicide.

Moore's Twitter account, mrskutcher, was among those responding to a message from a young man threatening to hang himself early Friday in Casselberry.

Moore — with 2.5 million followers — and husband Ashton Kutcher are both active on the social network.

Vardalos' eponymous account included a message that she had called a suicide hotline and been connected to Florida police. "I gave his name+city. They went to home, helped him," one message read.

The Seminole County Sheriff's Office said authorities received two calls around 2:30 a.m., one from California and one from Vancouver, British Columbia. Both callers reported the suicide threat on Twitter. There was no record of the callers' names, Lt. Sonia Pisano said.

Deputies went to a home and took an uninjured juvenile male to a hospital, Pisano said. She said she could not provide more specifics.

Calls to representatives for Moore and for Vardalos, who starred in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," went unanswered early Friday.
read more here
Twitter to stave off suicide attempt

Friday, February 26, 2010

DOD to allow Facebook and Twitter access to troops

DoD opens access to social media sites

By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Feb 26, 2010 14:54:36 EST

All users of unclassified computers in the .mil domain now will be allowed to access social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter — subject to local control if bandwidth demand or Web integrity become issues.

The announcement reverses a nearly three-year ban on access to bandwidth-heavy sites such as MySpace, and the Marine Corps’ August ban on access to social network sites, the Pentagon said Friday.

The open-access policy will rely largely on the responsible use by troops, much as they practice operational security in other means of communication, such as telephone conversations and letters. It is also a reflection of “increased security measures” the Defense Department has taken, said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/02/military_socialmedia_022610w/

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

U.S. Marine Corps bans Twitter, Facebook, MySpace

Marines ban Twitter, Facebook, other sites
Story Highlights
U.S. Marine Corps bans Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and other social media sites

Order, issued Monday, states that information on the sites poses a security risk

The Marines' ban is effective immediately and will last a year

U.S. Army recently ordered all U.S. bases to provide access to Facebook
By Noah Shachtman

(WIRED) -- The U.S. Marine Corps has banned Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and other social media sites from its networks, effective immediately.


The Marine Corps fears that social media sites such as Facebook could pose a security risk.

"These internet sites in general are a proven haven for malicious actors and content and are particularly high risk due to information exposure, user generated content and targeting by adversaries," reads a Marine Corps order, issued Monday.

"The very nature of SNS [social network sites] creates a larger attack and exploitation window, exposes unnecessary information to adversaries and provides an easy conduit for information leakage that puts OPSEC [operational security], COMSEC [communications security], [and] personnel... at an elevated risk of compromise."
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Marines ban Twitter, Facebook, other sites

Friday, May 1, 2009

Military using Facebook and Twitter to recruit

Services turn attention to Facebook, Twitter

By Sagar Meghani - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday May 1, 2009 14:10:45 EDT

FORT MONROE, Va. — You don’t often hear a three-star general using the word “friend” as a verb.

But for Lt. Gen. Benjamin Freakley and other Army brass, a new era has brought a new language — and new tools like online social networks Twitter and Facebook — for seeking out young recruits and spreading the military’s message.

Freakley, who heads the Army command that oversees recruiting, says social networking sites offer another way to reach tomorrow’s soldiers.

“They live in the virtual world,” Freakley said. He cited Facebook as a key component in targeting 18- to 24-year-olds. “You could friend your recruiter, and then he could talk to your friends.”

Even Gen. Raymond Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, has a new Facebook page to answer questions about the mission in Iraq and spread the word about what the troops are accomplishing there.

The Army isn’t the only branch of the military with Facebook friends or that has a following on Twitter. The Air Force has also established a Facebook page, Twitter feeds and a blog, while the Marine Corps is using various networking sites mainly for recruiting purposes. The Navy is “experimenting” with several forms of online media, and some of its commands are using Twitter, a spokesman said. Even the Coast Guard commandant regularly updates his Facebook status while traveling.
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Services turn attention to Facebook, Twitter