British squaddies banned from eBay

Where will they buy body armour now?

By John Oates • Get more from this author

Posted in Financial News, 29th November 2006 10:43 GMT

Free whitepaper – The Dell Management Console and ITIL

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is banning all staff from accessing eBay.

All the 180,000 MoD uniformed staff and the 100,000 civilian staff are banned from accessing eBay via the MoD's network.

But the ban does not apply to squaddies on active service in Iraq or Afghanistan - although they might have trouble getting couriers to deliver their purchases.

Some soliders complained to The Sun newspaper that the ban would make it harder for them to buy extra equipment.

An anonymous officer told The Sun: "The lads like to personalise the bog-standard equipment we're issued with their own purchases, to improve them and make them more comfortable. The best way to do that is second-hand over eBay."

A spokeswoman for the MoD told the Reg: "It's true we don't allow eBay access for people at work. But soldiers on active duty in Afghanistan or Iraq get internet access as part of their 'operational welfare package' - which is for leisure use, not work, so they can access what they like."