Soldiers’ families reveal identities

IS has in the past used social media to urge retaliation against countries involved in the coalition against it. It has also used social media to post videos of beheadings and websites to post videos warning of impending attacks.

A New Zealand Defence Force spokeswoman said the non ID stance was well known by those involved in the Iraq mission and had been in place before the first rotation left for Taji.

‘‘The issue of identity protection is looked at for each overseas mission and is dependant on location and nature of the mission and the level of security required for personnel to complete the mission safely.’’

Family members of deployed soldiers had been briefed on ways they could discuss their loved ones’ deployment with other family and friends, she said.

‘‘The advice given involves social media interaction and general discussion with family and friends.’’

Even though NZDF held no jurisdiction over staff members’ family and friends, they tended to be nor understanding and supportive of the recommended measures, the spokeswoman said.

The protected identity policy covered non identification by name or visually of personnel that were deployed on some missions.

Netsafe chief technology officer Sean Lyons said it was understandable that family and friends would want to share the excitement, but a better avenue might have to be approached in future.

He said some people who shared that type of information on sites such as Facebook probably had no understanding of the scale they had.