Defense Ministry Watches Orkut Closely

The defense ministry has taken steps to ensure that military secrets are not leaked through the social networking site, Orkut, though no violations have been reported so far, parliament was informed Wednesday.

"Defense personnel are periodically sensitized to nuances of military security and the implication of sharing classified information with strangers on social networks. They are also aware of the implications of such sharing under the Official Secrets Act," Defense Minister A.K. Antony said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

"No report pertaining to sharing of classified defense information on social networking sites involving defense service personnel has come to the notice of the government," he added.

According to the minister, directions have also been issued to "take stern action against defaulters" using the Internet at large for passing on defense secrets.

Antony also detailed the steps being taken to ensure that foreign intelligence agencies did not gain access to India's military secrets through the Internet.

These included sensitization of defense and civilian personnel at all levels, with special attention paid to new entrants at training institutes; regular policy guidelines being issued for compliance; and checks/audits undertaken by in-house teams to locate any breach, the minister stated.