Article/Blog #7 (I’ve lost Count): Israel, Facebook, and National Security

Posted: July 9th, 2008 | Author: Lindsay | Filed under: fulbright | Tags: idf facebook fulbright | No Comments »

Link to Article

from the Jewish Internet Defense Force:  Leading the Fight Against Antisemitism and Terrorism on the Web

This article is writte by Dr Andre Oboler and posted to Jerusalem Post on 4/24/08

• There is a “growing problem of sensitive military information leakinginto the public domain through social networking sites”.  yes, we’ve seen this in the US too.
• Palestinians use Google Earth to plan attacks on Israel’s military bases.
• Anyone can easily find pictures on Flickr, Photobucket and Webshot (I’m sure others) of soldiers and military equipment.
• On Facebook, friends, job and current “status” can be examined.  The article notes that there is more data privacy and protection, but only if people choose to use it.
• There is a clear call for IDF and Israeli Government to improve their Information Security (do I sniff a spin to my research idea?) at the policy, procedure and education level.  Hmmm, develop these as applied to online behavior and conduct..
• Solution is simple, implementation is harder.  Maybe the IDF should prevent the relase of info before the pictures leave the army base, or prevent the pics from being taken in the first place.
• There’s obviously the potential for the IDF to go overboard and be too restrictive.

The author posts a proposed solution which I will copy-paste so I can come back to it:

“A more sensible approach would be to establish a system whereby soldiers get permission from their officers before taking pictures, and officers then check the pictures before they leave the security of the base. A clearance procedure would include a checklist of things that must not be shown, as well as guidelines for soldiers indicating the types of pictures that are unlikely to be problematic – such as pictures with open terrain in the background and an absence of military hardware, infrastructure or identifying landmarks. Once guidelines are prepared and issued, the IDF should declare an amnesty period for those who have pictures on-line, allowing them to check their pictures against the guidelines and resolve any problems. Assistance in removing problematic material should be available without penalty.”

There are some other good points here:

• Facebook groups against the leakage of information (ex:  Can’t you see you’re helping the enemy)
• The author proposes using “clearance officers” within facebook groups as an informal operation.
• He believes that once pictures are online, a community-based approach is the only response.

The thing that’s touchy about proposing a solution, is that you need it, like the author said, to not go overboard, but to also not impede on the soldiers’ lives outside of the army. I wonder if soldiers perceive that as their only life?  What’s the compromise?  How much impedence are they willing to accept?

Education seems to be the solution proposed here as well, which is something we hear a lot in the US.  Except in the US our concerns are primarily on cyber-predators and bullying.

Related posts:

1. Article/Blog #5: AP: IDF Sees Facebook Threat
2. Forecast Highs
3. Blog/Article #2 Rima Barakat: Unfit to Serve in our State Government

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