Taking Facebook for Granted

In America, you usually have access to a computer within minutes—or even seconds—from work, school or home. Or maybe you are one of the million BlackBerry owners with the Facebook application downloaded for frequent usage.

In Israel, soldiers in the Young Israel Defense Forces and agents in the Israel Security Agency have been following the wave and joining Facebook. But what started as a casual way to socially network has turned into a nightmare.

For the past week, the Israeli media has been covering these young individuals and their “innocent” actions—posting photos, talking about their jobs, etc.—that could be putting themselves and others in danger. Pictures of soldiers in uniform at top-secret locations could be revealing to enemies, as could descriptions of job duties. The Israel Defense Ministry ordered them to keep any work-related material off of their profiles and they are not allowed to have any snapshots in uniform, even if they are at home.

We worry about Facebook ruining our reputation for a job or getting us in trouble with the law, but these individuals fear for their lives. [Israel Today]