USC Center on Public Diplomacy

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Published: OCT 21, 2005 - 12:45PM PST

Special Reports
Special reports are articles collecting the most relevant public diplomacy articles and information on topical issues, and are posted periodically by our research team at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy.

TERROR ONLINE: DEVELOPMENTS IN THE USE OF NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES BY TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS
OCT 21, 2005 - 12:45PM PST
by Shawn Powers

Download this report [PDF] The rapid diffusion of decentralized communications technologies is becoming a critical component in the operation and organization of terrorist networks. While security-based concerns regarding the use of the Internet for cyber-terrorism (disruption of critical networks, etc) have somewhat subsided, there is growing recognition that both the Internet’s mass media function and its decentralized infrastructure play a crucial role in modern terrorist organizations. Internet technologies are being deployed in innovative ways by terrorist groups, from the creation and maintenance of encrypted traffic over rapid and untraceable networks to transmitting alternative news broadcasts. The Internet is serving both as a forum for the training of subterfuge and as a means of conducting that subterfuge, both as a vehicle for dispensing information about terrorism and for coordinating the logistical and financial resources to conduct that terrorism. Additionally, the Internet provides a valuable space for the location and integration of new recruits. New communication technologies are presenting violent groups the means to both target particular audiences as well as reframe their messages independent of the mainstream media for a broader audience. These dynamics together pose new and formidable challenges to domestic and international policy-makers. This special report examines journalistic coverage discussing these recent phenomena and the scholarship that has grown around that rage. These works provide practical description and rigorous analysis regarding the how the Information Revolution will continue to alter the strategies and tactics used by terrorist organizations. If you would like to post your ideas and reactions to this report, you can add your comments at the bottom of this page. e-Qaeda: A special report on how jihadists use the Internet and technology to spread their messages (Hunter Wilson and Steven King, The Washington Post, 2005) In three video reports, experts on jihadists' use of the Web describe how al Qaeda and allied groups are using the Internet to recruit more fighters, spread their message and train their followers to commit acts of terror. Samples of terrorist manuals and screenshots of jihadist Web sites are also available. And for a follow-up discussion to the report: LINK www-terror-net: How Modern Terrorism Uses the Internet (Gabriel Weimann, senior fellow at the United States Institute of Peace and professor of communication at Haifa University (Israel), USIP Special Report, March 2004) Terrorists fight their wars in cyberspace as well as on the ground. However, while politicians and the media have hotly debated the dangers that cyberterrorism poses to the Internet, surprisingly little is known about the threat posed by terrorists’ use of the Internet. Today, as this report makes plain, terrorist organizations and their supporters maintain hundreds of websites, exploiting the unregulated, anonymous, and easily accessible nature of the Internet to target an array of messages to a variety of audiences. Gabriel Weimann identifies no fewer than eight different ways in which terrorists are using the Internet to advance their cause, ranging from psychological warfare to recruitment, networking to fundraising. In each case, the report not only analyzes how the Internet can…... FULL TEXT