JIHAD IN CYBERSPACE

Despite a recent U.S. National Intelligence Estimate warning that terror groups are using the internet to recruit, finance, train and propagate their violent ideology, a majority of their websites continue to be hosted by American Internet service providers (ISP’s).

“Over 75% of terrorist websites are hosted on servers based in the US, Canada and the West, said Gabriel Wiemann, author of “Terror on the Internet: The New Arena, The New Challenges.” Terrorist groups use U.S. servers because they are the most accessible and reliable in dealing with vast amounts of data and traffic.”

As the search continues for Osama Bin Laden, American ISP’s have allowed al Qaeda to establish an army of online insurgents and a new base in cyberspace. In this ungoverned territory, popular U.S. Internet companies, such as, Google, Yahoo! and MSN are being exploited by terror groups who rely on their low cost, high quality services to host their interactive websites, forums, chat groups, video sharing depots and blogs.

Consider “Al-Furqan Media,” a Google blog that works as a media production company for al Qaeda in Iraq. Chat groups like “Supporters of Jihad in Iraq,” hosted by Yahoo! and a pro-Hezbollah group on MSN’s portal allow terrorists to communicate their message en masse.

Accordingly to section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act ISP’s hosting these sites are breaking U.S. law, which states it is unlawful to provide “Foreign Terrorist Organizations” with “material support or services,” including “communication equipment and facilities.”

But most ISP’s are unaware they are hosting terrorist groups due to the large amount of data they work with and the language barrier—most sites are written in Arabic.

Free speech and liberal access issues work in favor of cyber jihadis, said Weimann. “Service providers don’t want to appear to be censoring content or taking a political position. They are not going to go out and search for sites to remove. But if someone writes and tells them they are hosting a terrorist site they will take it down.”

Unlike physical training camps, the Internet provides high level of mobility and anonymity, allowing sites and their users to move without risk. For example, when SiteGenie LLC, a hosting company in Minnesota, was recently notified that it was hosting the jihadi forum, “World News Networks,” it quickly removed it only to find that it reappeared on an ISP based in Malaysia just days later.

Indeed, advances in information sharing technology has changed the battlefield, allowing terrorist groups--like al Qaeda--to evolve from a centrally directed organization into a worldwide franchise of cells. Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri—like franchise directors--can inspire, command and control al Qaeda activists by transmitting propaganda through a global web of fiber optics.

Anyone with an internet connection can enter al Qaeda’s “Al-Battar Training Camp” and gain access to US military field guides and guerilla fighting tactics. The website, which is hosted by R&D Technologies, LLC in Nevada, shows how to build the same armor piercing Improvised Explosive Devices responsible for the deaths of numerous American soldiers in Iraq. (SEE IF SITES ARE UP)

Not satisfied with their efforts, Yigal Carmon, the president of The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), said, “It is taking upon itself a public service, offering ISP’s that want to know about the content of the site they are hosting information regarding those sites with in 7-10 days,” in a recent briefing on Capitol Hill.

A number of virtual vigilantes have taken the law into their own hands.

Rita Katz, Director of the SITE Institute and Aaron Wiesburd, Director of the website Internet Haganah, are part of growing number of individuals and private groups that are fighting terrorists in cyberspace. Working primarily from open source intelligence, Katz has prevented terror attacks against U.S. coalition forces in Iraq. From a suburban home in Illinois, Wiesburd has shut down over a 1,100 terrorist sites—the majority of which remain closed.

But even Wiesburd admits there is no easy solution.

“A jihadi site is like an informant. If you kill it, it doesn't talk any more. It is necessary to strike a balance between the need to acquire information about the adversary and the need to defeat the adversary,” writes Wiesburd on his website Internet Haganah. “While websites are not people, the victims of terrorists are people - the consequences of failure to strike the right balance between leaving sites online and taking them down are potentially catastrophic.”