Terrorists On The Internet-Yeah, Messageboards Too!

[Annie]

http://www.nytimes.com/cfr/international/slot2_030606.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

March 6, 2006
Q&A: Terrorists and the Internet
By EBEN KAPLAN

From the Council on Foreign Relations, March 6, 2006

Eben Kaplan is a writer for the Council on Foreign Relations website, cfr.org.

Introduction

Terrorists are increasingly using the Internet as a means of communication both with each other and the rest of the world. By now, nearly everyone has seen at least some images from propaganda videos published on terrorist sites and rebroadcast on the world's news networks. Western governments have intensified surveillance of such sites but their prosecution of site operators is hampered by concerns over civil liberties, not to mention the Internet's inherent anonymity.

How do terrorist organizations use the Internet?

The Internet is a powerful tool for terrorists, who use online message boards and chat rooms to share information, coordinate attacks, spread propaganda, fundraise, and recruit. According to Haifa University's Gabriel Weimann, over the last ten years, the number of terrorist sites has jumped from less than 100 to over 4,000. "This has particularly taken off since the war in Iraq, as many of the insurgency groups there have many sites and message boards to help their network," says Michael Kern, a senior analyst at the SITE Institute, a Washington-based terrorist-tracking group.

Terrorist websites can serve as virtual training grounds, offering tutorials on building bombs, firing surface-to-air-missiles, shooting at U.S. soldiers, and sneaking into Iraq from abroad. Terrorist sites also host messages and propaganda videos which help to raise morale and further the expansion of recruitment and fundraising networks.

How effective is online terrorist propaganda?

Perhaps the most effective way in which terrorists use the Internet is the spread of propaganda. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaeda cell in Iraq has proven particularly adept in its use of the web, garnering attention by posting footage of events such as roadside bombings, the decapitation of American Nick Berg, and kidnapped Egyptian and Algerian diplomats prior to their execution. On July 29 the Iraqi al-Qaeda group released via the Internet "All Religion Will Be for Allah," a forty-six-minute propaganda video that an August 5 Washington Post report described as "slickly produced" with "the feel of a blood-and-guts annual report."

In Iraq, terrorist propaganda videos are viewed by a large portion of society, not just those who sympathize with terrorists and insurgents. In addition to being posted online, the videos are said to be sold in Baghdad video shops, hidden behind the counter along with the pornography. Evan Kohlman, an expert in terrorists' use of the Internet, points out that propaganda films are not exclusively made in theMiddle East; groups from Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Chechnya have also produced videos.

In 2004, General John Abizaid, the head of U.S. Central Command, told reporters terrorist websites cleverly "develop the perception of great strength" and project a "virtual caliphate" to thousands of viewers around the globe...