If you have a loved one stationed overseas in the Navy or with the Marines, you can forget about exchanging e-mail with them if they use any of the commercial services such as Hotmail, Yahoo!, AOL, or Gmail. According to a report in Stars & Stripes, the Navy and Marine Corps have blocked all access to such services from overseas government computers, including those at libraries.

The reason, said Neal Miller, a manager with Naval Network Warfare Command, is that “access to such services leaves the unclassified government network too susceptible to hackers and computer viruses.”

“This concerns us,” said Ciro Giordano, supervisory librarian at Naval Support Activity Naples, Italy, “because so many of our patrons won’t be able to access their e-mail, and many come to the library to do just that.”

While the affected Navy and Marine personnel will…

[Continue reading Military Blocking Access to Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL and Gmail for Overseas Troops]

Tags: yahoo, aol, hotmail, gmail, soldiers, military, access