Posted on 08/07/2005 1:49:23 PM PDT by neverdem
In the snow-draped mountains near Jalalabad in November 2001, as the Taliban collapsed and al Qaeda lost its Afghan sanctuary, Osama bin Laden biographer Hamid Mir watched "every second al Qaeda member carrying a laptop computer along with a Kalashnikov" as they prepared to scatter into hiding and exile. On the screens were photographs of Sept. 11 hijacker Mohamed Atta.
Nearly four years later, al Qaeda has become the first guerrilla movement in history to migrate from physical space to cyberspace. With laptops and DVDs, in secret hideouts and at neighborhood Internet cafes, young code-writing jihadists have sought to replicate the training, communication, planning and preaching facilities they lost in Afghanistan with countless new locations on the Internet.
Al Qaeda suicide bombers and ambush units in Iraq routinely depend on the Web for training and tactical support, relying on the Internet's anonymity and flexibility to operate with near impunity in cyberspace. In Qatar, Egypt and Europe, cells affiliated with al Qaeda that have recently carried out or seriously planned bombings have relied heavily on the Internet.
Such cases have led Western intelligence agencies and outside terrorism specialists to conclude that the "global jihad movement," sometimes led by al Qaeda fugitives but increasingly made up of diverse "groups and ad hoc cells," has become a "Web-directed" phenomenon, as a presentation for U.S. government terrorism analysts by longtime State Department expert Dennis Pluchinsky put it. Hampered by the nature of the Internet itself, the government has proven ineffective at blocking or even hindering significantly this vast online presence.
Among other things, al Qaeda and its offshoots are building a massive and dynamic online library of training materials -- some supported by experts who answer questions on message boards or in chat rooms -- covering such varied subjects as how to mix ricin...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
One good one, would be to send the cells a directive, to immediately proceed to Bullhead City, Arizona and wait for further instructions.
BTTT
Per my very limited knowledge of the net and all things web like I believe that a jpeg or bitmap picture "code" can be edited to include a message. They can use any web site to post a picture that has this code to pass on messages can they not ?
What ever happend to the volunteers from seven seas that were on these web connections long ago ? Have they gone deep cover to elude publicity as they work to counter the terrorists web complex ?
The solution to this crisis is regulation of the net, of course.
I'm sure it's just a coincidence that the UN is pushing for the job.
ping
ON THE NET...
http://www.internet-haganah.us/jihadi/
http://www.memri.org/jihad.html
http://www.memritv.org
http://www.jihadwatch.org
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http://www.internet-haganah.us/harchives/004700.html
August 07, 2005
"'Terrorists Turn to the Web as Base of Operations'
Regarding this article in the Washington Post:"
It's called steganography. I hope the NSA is up to the task.
Yah Dat's it !.......Do ya have any noooze on the seven seas group ? Are they still active ?
I don't have any info, one hopes we're all over it.
I'm sure they are.
One can already download freeware programs on the web that will hide a message inside graphics files. Send your graphics file to someone else, who then uses the same program to un-encrypt it.
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