Very excited by VVIP visit.” Then the doorbell rings, and a figure in a balaclava, camouflage gear and crossed bandoliers comes in and drinks a cup of tea with her while looking at her son’s baby photos. On-screen text warns: “It may not just be friends and family reading your status updates”.
In another, two female sailors are seen disembarking. One posts on Twitter that they will be going to a local club, and then adds that she has been on a six-month tour on HMS Diamond. Once in the club, she checks in to Foursquare to give her location, before starting dancing. The same balaclava-clad figure is seen dancing with her, waving an AK-47 above his head in time to the music, while on-screen text says: “Is it just your mates who know where you’ve checked in?”
On its blog site, the MoD has issued an accompanying article about personal security online, saying “Social networking sites are great for keeping in touch with family and friends, and letting the world know what you’re up to”, and emphasising that they “encourage the safe and responsible use of social networking sites.” However, they also warn that there are people out there, ranging “from criminals looking for ways to con you or steal your identity, to those who may wish us harm”, who will wish to misuse the information they post.
They say: “This is why you need to be aware of how much information there is online about you. Not just that which you’ve put there yourself, but also that which other people or organisations have put there. You need to be especially careful if you have identified yourself as being a member of the military or an MOD civilian.
“It can be simple to collate information from various sources in order to build up a picture of who a person is. Similarly it might only take one careless comment, or posting a picture without checking what’s in the background to put friends and colleagues at risk.”
During the Second World War, propaganda campaigns on both sides of the Atlantic warned Allied personnel to be careful where they mentioned sensitive information. In Britain, the key slogan was “Careless talk costs lives”; famous cartoons by Fougasse showed British citizens talking quietly, not noticing caricatures of Hitler or Goebbels listening in. Another showed a soldier, an airman and a sailor at a party, clearly trying to impress a young woman, above the words “Keep mum – she’s not so dumb!
In the US, the equivalent was “Loose lips sink ships”.
www.telegraph.co.uk
