In a new move to tighten security and prevent information leaks, Israeli soldiers will be prohibited from accessing social media while they are at army bases.
Soldiers will be barred from social networks like Facebook and Twitter, as well as from using email sites like Yahoo and Gmail.
A military operation was cancelled after a soldier revealed the plans on his Facebook page. The Israeli’s military also faced world-wide criticism and embarrassment after photos of Israeli soldiers mistreating detained Palestinians were posted on Facebook and after classified military information was leaked on the Internet.
The decision aims at preventing the leakage of classified information as well as facing embarrassments like the several incidents the Israeli military faced in the recent past.
Fears over using geo-location service by terrorist to identify and track targets left the Ministry of Defense to issue an advisory documents advising service personnels to opt out of geo-location services on social networking sites such as Facebook Places.
A report on The Register says an MoD advisory document regarding the potential threat and step-by-step instruction on how to disable Facebook Places is being circulated.
“The main concern relating to the use of the application, is that it may inadvertently compromise the locality of a military user,” The Register quotes the document, “Of significant note, users on operations in Northern Ireland, are potentially putting themselves at risk by drawing attention to their exact whereabouts.”
Facebook Places was launched in the U.K two weeks back. The service, which lets users check in their locations has not been able shook itself off privacy concerns yet.
The informative MoD’s advisory shared by The Register can be viewed here (pdf).
The Israel Defense Forces called off a raid in Palestinian territory after a soldier posted details of the operation, including the time and place, on Facebook on Wednesday, Haaretz reports, quoting Army Radio.
The soldier described in a status update how his unit planned a “clean-up” arrest raid in a West Bank area. He is also said to have disclosed the name of the combat unit. His Facebook friends reportedly reported him to military authorities.
“On Wednesday we clean up Qatanah, and on Thursday, god willing, we come home.” the soldier wrote on his Facebook page, referring to a West Bank village near Ramallah, according to the source.
The soldier has since been relieved of combat duty.
Lucky for him that his unthoughtful post was reported and actions were taken in time. God knows how many people would have died if they went about the raid without knowing that their mission plan is out in the street.
Just a few days back, the U.S DoD opened up its doors to social medias like Facebook and Twitter. Hope that we don’t hear about someone updating, “Headed to Baghdad for an emergency air strike!!” 
Social media has its own bright and dark side. It’s a double-edge knife. Just one unthoughtful post can put ourself and others in danger. So, one should use it judiciously.
In a new move to tighten security and prevent information leaks, Israeli soldiers will be prohibited from accessing social media while they are at army bases.