Cyberspace and Jihad

[Annie]

It's a problem:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1171894537514&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull

Cyberspace as a combat zone: The phenomenon of Electronic Jihad
E. ALSHECH , THE JERUSALEM POST Feb. 28, 2007

Alongside military jihad, which has been gaining momentum and extracting an ever growing price from many countries around the globe, Islamists have been developing a new form of warfare, termed "electronic jihad," which is waged on the Internet. This new form of jihad was launched in recent years and is still in its early stages of development. However, as this paper will show, Islamists are fully aware of its destructive potential, and persistently strive to realize this potential.

Electronic jihad is a phenomenon whereby mujahideen use the Internet to wage economic and ideological warfare against their enemies. Unlike other hackers, those engaged in electronic jihad are united by a common strategy and ideology which are still in a process of formation.

This paper aims to present the phenomenon of electronic jihad and to characterize some of its more recent developments. It lays out the basic ideology and motivations of its perpetrators, describes, as far as possible, its various operational strategies, and assesses the short and long-term dangers posed by this relatively new phenomenon. The paper focuses on electronic jihad waged by organized Islamist groups that mobilize large numbers of hackers around the world to attack servers and Web sites owned by those whom they regard as their enemies.

Organized Electronic Jihad

In the past few years Islamist Web sites have provided ample evidence that Islamist hackers do not operate as isolated individuals, but carry out coordinated attacks against Web sites belonging to those whom they regard as their enemies. As evident from numerous postings on the Islamist Web sites, many of these coordinated attacks are organized by groups devoted to electronic jihad. Six prominent groups of this sort have emerged on the Internet over the past few years: Hackboy, Ansar Al-Jihad LilJihad Al-Electroni, Munazamat Fursan Al-Jihad Al-Electroni, Majmu'at Al-Jihad Al-Electroni, Majma' Al-Haker Al-Muslim, and Inhiyar AlDolar. All these groups, with the exception of Munazamat Fursan Al-Jihad and Inhiyar alDolar, have Web sites of their own through which they recruit volunteers to take part in electronic attacks, maintain contacts with others who engage in electronic jihad, coordinate their attacks, and enable their members to chat with one another anonymously.

The Majmu'at Al-Jihad Al-Electroni Web site, for example, includes the following sections: a document explaining the nature of electronic jihad, a section devoted to electronic jihad strategy, a technical section on software used for electronic attacks, a section describing previous attacks and their results, and various appeals to Muslims, mujahideen, and hackers worldwide.

...

More, links:

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=24615_Jihad_and_Jew_Watch_on_YouTube&only

Jihad and "Jew Watch" on YouTube

NonParty Politics has a post with screenshot evidence of YouTube’s gross double standard of allowing truly evil jihad videos and radical Islamic propaganda, while instantly cracking down on anti-jihad videos and deleting the accounts of people who post them—even when, as in the case of Nick Gisburne, the video consists entirely of direct, factual quotations from the Koran. As NP Politics points out, this is a deliberate campaign (similar to the Diggbats campaign) by a Muslim YouTube community group to shut down the anti-jihad voices.

Allahpundit has another example of the repellent material that remains on YouTube despite being “flagged as inappropriate” many times: “Jew Watch” on YouTube.

 

[gabosaurus]

We use the internet for propaganda purposes, they use the internet for propaganda purposes.
The beauty of the internet is that it allow everyone equal access to all points of view. It is up to the individual to process those points of view and decide how to react.
What is one of the cardinal rules of warfare? "Know Your Enemy"
Why would an allegedly free society want to restrict what their citizens see? That would make us like China or Saudi Arabia.

I read all points of view. I read U.S. media and foreign media. I read terrorist web sites. I read the Arab media. I want to know what they are thinking.

Anyone who believes someone is going to read a web site and suddenly decide to become a terrorist needs to go back to watching The Disney Channel.

 

[Annie]

We use the internet for propaganda purposes, they use the internet for propaganda purposes.
The beauty of the internet is that it allow everyone equal access to all points of view. It is up to the individual to process those points of view and decide how to react.
What is one of the cardinal rules of warfare? "Know Your Enemy"
Why would an allegedly free society want to restrict what their citizens see? That would make us like China or Saudi Arabia.

I read all points of view. I read U.S. media and foreign media. I read terrorist web sites. I read the Arab media. I want to know what they are thinking.

Anyone who believes someone is going to read a web site and suddenly decide to become a terrorist needs to go back to watching The Disney Channel.

It's interesting though that You Tube is having no problem denying videos marked 'offensive' to Islam; but no problem carrying the 'offensive' propaganda snuff and recruitment vids.

Google routinely knocks out conservative sites from its lists for 'rules', but no such problem for sites like Kos or Huffington, that routinely have 'rules violations.' Go figure.