Pentagon blocks video sites

Cyber Command has shut down defence department workers' access to popular streaming video Web sites including YouTube, Amazon, and Google Video, reports The Washington Post.

Officials say the tremendous demand to see the Japan earthquake is eating up bandwidth already weakened by Internet problems in that part of the world.

Cyber Command has directed the Defence Information Systems Agency to temporarily restrict access to the Web sites. Most employees see the message 'Web site blocked' in bright red letters when they go to one of the sites.

The Associated Press reports that the Pentagon's Cyber Command took the action at the request of the US Pacific Command.

The explanation, according to AP, is that heavy video demand is straining military networks and circuits and making it harder for the US military to carry out its humanitarian mission responding to the disaster in Japan.

President Barack Obama formed the Pentagon's Cyber Command in 2009 to oversee the security of military computers and to develop cyber war capabilities, says Tech Flash.