Faceless on Facebook

'Ten new friends have just linked to your profile'. We all get these cheerful notifications from our favorite social networking software. But just who are your friends? And why are they interested in you? The Daily Telegraph reports, "British troops have been warned not to post personal details on internet websites amid fears that they will be targeted by British-based al-Qaeda terrorists. The warning, which states that al-Qaeda cells are increasingly using the Internet to track down potential targets, appeared in a "restricted" military security document distributed to Army units across Britain. The document reveals that troops using the Facebook, MySpace and Friends Reunited sites may potentially be most at risk. It is understood to be the first time that either the security service, MI5, or the military has warned troops of the dangers of posting personal information and pictures on websites."

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The tactic of attacking British military personnel while off duty was used to great effect by the IRA. And there's every reason to think that Islamic radicals in the UK could copy the same tactic. At least that's what British authorities fear. "Scores of soldiers flying home from Afghanistan on Christmas leave were ordered to change out of their uniforms on a freezing runway before being allowed into a civilian airport terminal. Troops were told not to be seen in public in their uniforms ... One soldier, who was ordered to undress for “security reasons”, said: “It is an insult to the entire Army to force guys who’ve been fighting in Afghanistan to obey some jobsworth rule when all they want to do is get home to their families.

But the reality is that the Internet plus the radical Islamic diaspora now means that there is no neat distinction between the battlefield and "home". Fighting al-Qaeda has become like staying at the Hotel California. You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave -- the conflict -- that is. The Telegraph article continues:

Access to Facebook is restricted to members, but the only thing that is required to register is an email. With several false accounts, it is possible to access the personal pages of many Services personnel listed on regimental forums on the site.

The Sunday Telegraph found at least 888 names on the Royal Marines network on Facebook, and 72 members on the network for The Royal Anglian Regiment. Many of the soldiers listed on the site revealed their full names, dates of birth, home towns, names of family members, girlfriends or wives, the locations where they had served and pictures posing with colleagues and weapons.

The threat facing troops in Britain became apparent earlier this year when the security services uncovered an alleged plot to kidnap a British Muslim soldier recently returned from service abroad and to behead him on the internet.

Whether a person knows it or not and increasingly, whether a person likes it or not, he acquires an online reputation. British soldiers are learning that being known as a Soldier of the Queen online means Kipling's warning to those bound for Afghanistan may apply in Britain.

When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.

Go, go, go like a soldier,
Go, go, go like a soldier,
Go, go, go like a soldier,
So-oldier _of_ the Queen!