Saturday, December 06, 2008
Online Terrorism/Anti-Terrorism
In seperate articles by Dan Murphy and Kamran Bokhari, it appears that America is fighting a multifront war against terrorism; on the battlefront in Iraq and on the internet. The continuing advancements of the internet has given al Qaeda and other global terrorist groups a cheap, effective, and fast way to spread its messages.
Videos, message boards, and other forms of online media communication are being used to emphasize hate towards western nations like the United States and England, while also encouraging acts of terrorism. Murphy refers to these sites as a "magaphone for radical jihadi ideologies" for their ability to promote their messages to a large audience. Terrorist organizations believe in the internet's efficiency and it's abiblity to reach a glonal audience, that many of their sites have used Ayman al-Zawahiri (bin Laden's right hand man) to send audio and video messages in support and encouragement of terrorist ideals. Because many outside parties took down their extremist sites, many of their sites are operated on their own private servers, enabling them to show and say whatever they would like.
As a result, a strong anti-online terrorism movement has countered the terrorists online usage. While some have argued against the process of taking down web-sites because it constricts the frree flow of information on the internet, A. Aaron Weisburd, a native New Yorker, was deeply affected by the events of 9/11 and has since started an organization called, "Internet Haganah", which Weisburd and his supporters estimate is responsible for taking down between 650 - 1,000 sites they view as threatening.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH10KZoA0dU
Videos, message boards, and other forms of online media communication are being used to emphasize hate towards western nations like the United States and England, while also encouraging acts of terrorism. Murphy refers to these sites as a "magaphone for radical jihadi ideologies" for their ability to promote their messages to a large audience. Terrorist organizations believe in the internet's efficiency and it's abiblity to reach a glonal audience, that many of their sites have used Ayman al-Zawahiri (bin Laden's right hand man) to send audio and video messages in support and encouragement of terrorist ideals. Because many outside parties took down their extremist sites, many of their sites are operated on their own private servers, enabling them to show and say whatever they would like.
As a result, a strong anti-online terrorism movement has countered the terrorists online usage. While some have argued against the process of taking down web-sites because it constricts the frree flow of information on the internet, A. Aaron Weisburd, a native New Yorker, was deeply affected by the events of 9/11 and has since started an organization called, "Internet Haganah", which Weisburd and his supporters estimate is responsible for taking down between 650 - 1,000 sites they view as threatening.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH10KZoA0dU
