Is Facebook blocked on Air Force computers in Afghanistan?

[Gene]

I thought DoD agreed social media was okay, but I've heard they blocked it there on the official computers. Of course, all the rules had to be followed, but I still thought it was okay. Any RECENT experience either way? I'm talking about government desktops, not morale computers.

[The Man]

AF comps?

FB is blocked in all combat zones except East Africa as far as I'm aware, like all social networking.

[Michele C]

My friends husband is overseas right now and hes able to get on Facebook. Now finding the time to get on facebook is a different story.

[jeeper_peeper321]

It is ok for service members on their own computers to use social media.

It is blocked in deployed locations, because it is such a heavy band width user.

IE: it was interfering with official business.

[tinyarmy681]

SPAWAR Europe (computer access for Afghanistan is controlled through all the Army installations in Germany) blocks Facebook access in Afghanistan. There are ways around it, but it's not worth it. You can either use your personal computer and commercial internet through IO Global or you can use MWR computers.

All social media (Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, etc) is blocked, as are open media (see also photosharing-Flickr et al), humor (CollegeHumor.com, Icanhazcheezburger), individual blogs, internet-based email (Juno, AOL), and obviously adult sites. There are a lot of reasons, but bandwidth limitations, OPSEC, and virus/malware protection are among the bigger reasons.

Yes, the DoD has said that social media is ok, but they've also said you need to be careful about what you post. Many commands out here have Facebook/Twitter accounts (see link below), which you can access back in America, but I can't here (though to be fair, I don't need to hear whatever is being said on the command Facebook or the official tweets. Those are for the American public's consumption, not the servicemembers).