The Guardian, a publication from the United Kingdom, is reporting new guidelines for military personnel:

“Sweeping new guidelines barring military personnel from speaking about their service publicly have been quietly introduced by the Ministry of Defence, the Guardian has learned.

Soldiers, sailors and airforce personnel will not be able to blog, take part in surveys, speak in public, post on bulletin boards, play in multi-player computer games or send text messages or photographs without the permission of a superior if the information they use concerns matters of defence.”

link: MoD issues gag order on armed forces

One wonders how this would be enforced? For example, how would text messages and emails be monitored? Would there be a military ‘blog police’ to track down and identify anonymous bloggers, in case they happen to be part of the armed forces? Perhaps the Ministry of Defence could consult with their media counterparts in China to see what has proved successful means of censorship.

Catherine Forsythe

Tags: ministry of defence, gag orders, internet, public speaking, enforcement, censorship, security