Airmen warned about Facebook, Foursquare

  • Published
  • By By Airman 1st Class Matthew Hubby
  • 436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
WASHINGTON --  The Air Force is warning its troops to be careful when using Facebook and other popular networking sites because some new features could show the enemy exactly where U.S. forces are located in war zones.

In a warning issued on its internal website earlier this month, the Air Force said that "careless use of these services by airmen can have devastating operations security and privacy implications." The message was also sent to senior commanders, who were asked to get the word out to their forces.

The applications, which are offered by a variety of services including Facebook, Foursquare, Gowalla and Loopt, can identify a person's location; even pinpoint it on a map.

"Before you leave on deployment, everyone you know knows you're deploying," said Michael Daniels, 436th Airlift Wing Information Protection chief. "There is really no need to update them on the weather, where you are, what missions you've been on or the details of upcoming missions."

A key concern is that enemy forces could use such features to track troops in the war zone who have a Blackberry or other smart phone and use those networking services.

"Sometimes people might not realize that all the things they say can be pieced together by the enemy and used against them," said Mr. Daniels. "Every bit of information can be costly. One person can say something and suddenly that surprise mission is no longer a surprise."

Location services have grown in popularity as more people get smart phones that have GPS and other means of determining the user's location.

In most cases, however, users have to go into the program manually and check in -- or list a location -- in order for that location to show up.

According to Facebook's practices, for example, users must either download the Facebook application and then check in to a location, or go to the mobile Facebook page to check in. The default setting for Facebook then allows a user's friends to see the location, but that setting can be manually changed to allow friends of friends or "everyone" see the location.

"Social media is a good communication tool for family and friends, if used correctly," said Mr. Daniels. "But families need to know, in order for our missions to be successful: mum's the word. If someone asks you about what's going on with your mission on Facebook, just tell them that you honestly can't talk about it over Facebook, and you'll tell them what you can when you get home, if it's something you can talk about."

Facts attributed to Lolita Baldor - The Associated Press