Military Blogging Rules

mediabistro blogged A new memo by Lt. Gen. John Vines, the commander of day-to-day operations in Iraq, lays out new rules for websites and soldier-written blogs. While the current policy only applies to soldiers in Iraq, if they are proven effective at balancing military concerns over privacy and classified information with soldiers' desire for First Amendment protections, they may be adopted across the military. Dated April 6, the four-page memo addresses several controversies that have arisen about soldiers blogging about their time in Iraq, and decrees that soldiers may keep and publish personal online journals as long as they don't publish "prohibited information," including classified information, notes on casualties before next-of-kin have been notified, and other information not generally released under a Freedom of Information Act request.

Those seem to be reasonable restrictions

Under a threat of court martial, soldiers must register with their unit commander any blog or unofficial website, including the hosting company, IP address, and the webmaster's name. "Risks of the release of information must be weighed against the benefits of publishing to the Internet," the memo explains. An Army Web Risk Assessment Cell (or, in military jargon, AWRAC) will be tasked with checking to ensure that prohibited information does not end up on the web, and unit commanders will have to check websites and blogs under their command quarterly for compliance. Military blogging has grown in popularity since the U.S. invaded Afghanistan and Iraq and estimates say that several hundred soldiers now have blogs--including one who landed a book deal thanks to his writings--and the Webbys recently established a new award category for "Best Military Weblog." You can download the PDF memo here.

Hat tip to Steve Rubel