I've never bought this explanation for the authorities not taking down some of the more virulent sites. I suppose one could make a First Amendment arguement here but that's pretty thin under the circumstances. I don't think we'd have allowed a German SS site to operate during WWII even if we thought we could glean some info from it.
Bad analogy I think, at least prior to 07 December 1941 while we still maintained diplomatic relations with Germany. I believe a better comparison is with the producers and distributors of snuff films and videos, in which presumably unwilling actors are killed onscreen for entertainment purposes.
-archy-/-
This is true - we did not allow the Germans to do what the Islamists are now doing.
In 1938, the Foreign Agents Registration Act was Congress' response to the large number of German propaganda agents in the pre-WWII U.S. It's purpose was to insure that the American public and its law makers know the source of information (propaganda) intended to sway public opinion, policy, and laws. All of the owners of the Islamic terrorist websites should have been registered and the information must be made public.
FARA is one of those federal bureaucracies that were instituted and then someone forgot what the purpose was for - but still continues to exist on for decades sucking up millions of dollars without serving the original purpose. The only foreign agents that register are the ones who follow the law. I went to the FARA site and did a search for HAMAS -- the only agents returned were the BaHAMAS Tourist Council Agency.