Army Replaces YouTube With Censored TroopTube

The US Army banned YouTube, social networking sites and blogging well over a year ago, citing security and bandwidth issues. Standard wartime practice, really, just updated for the internets. It has the unfortunate side effect, though, of cutting troops from technology that would keep them closer to their family. Enter TroopTube, a video sharing site where soldiers can upload clips for the families and “supporters” that are screened by Pentagon employees for “taste, copyright violations and national security issues.”

Say what you will about the clips being effectively censored, it says something that the Army—which is mostly concerned with essentials, not luxuries—saw fit to invest in a video sharing site just for soldiers. It’s not as good as YouTube (can they get Hulu?), but I’m sure they’d agree it’s better than nothing. [MSNBC]