-Caveat Lector- > Terror on the Web, with an olive branch > > By Shahar Smooha > > At first glance, the official Web site of the ELN, an > underground group in Colombia, looks like it's owned and > operated by a respectable think tank. At second glance, as > well. > Unthreatening links to "the peace process," "human rights," > "ideas and debate" and "drugs and corruption" lead to pages > with well-written essays that analyze the crimes of the > Colombia government against its citizenry. > > There are illustrations reminiscent of Amnesty > International's, pictures of children and drawings of a > peace dove with an olive branch in its beak. Nowhere does > the site mention the hundreds of people the ELN kidnaps > every year, using the ransoms to pay for its activities. > There's no mention of the judges, politicians, businessmen > and many other civilians who have been killed by the ELN > since their uprising against the government began in 1964. > > The Web site run by the Tamili Tigers, who are fighting for > Tamili independence in Sri Lanka, complains about harm done > to Tamili women. There's no mention of terror, including > suicide bombers, assassinations, and massacres. And when > there is mention of the organization's violent operations, > it's always in the context of anti-government actions and > against military targets. > > The Turkey's Revolutionary People's Liberation Front, a > Marxist group operating since 1978 against government and > American targets in the country, carries a letter on its Web > site directed to the European Union. The letter refers to > the EU's decision not to include it and the PKK on a > terrorist list as proof that the real terrorist element in > the country is the Ankara government. > > The sober reality presented to Net travelers by the ELN and > other groups is not unusual. It is an accurate reflection > of the main thesis of a three-year-old study by Prof. Gabi > Weiman and Dr. Yariv Tzfati from the University of Haifa's > Communications Department. The study was updated in January > 2002, following September 11. The researchers, who sum up > their findings in an article to appear in an upcoming issue > of Rand, the American think tank's journal, decided to > examine the Web-based rhetoric of terror groups and found > that almost all the groups either hide their violent > activity or make no mention of it. > > The reason, they believe, is that the terrorist groups > perceive the general Western public, but particularly > Internet users, as educated and liberal. So, they emphasize > those subjects that Western democracies would find > sympathetic. Government actions against terrorism, like > harming freedom of speech, arrests without trials, and > torture, contradict the basic values of Western democracies, > and are emphasized at the sites. From the PKK to the ETA, > the Tamili Tigers to the Shining Path, the Web sites are > devised to embarrass their government enemies, and on the > Internet, a liberal means of communication that is both > chaotic and decentralized, the tactic works beautifully. > > Anti-Microsoft "The similarity between the terrorist > rhetoric on the Internet and other media is the wealth of > propaganda techniques, transferring the guilt to the other > side and justifying the use of violence," says Weiman. "The > difference is that terrorist rhetoric on the Net is much > more pacifist and liberal, and uses terms that we found more > on the Internet than elsewhere." > > Weiman says that "the terrorists assume that the Net carries > its own non-violent message of freedom of speech, liberty, > open globalization, and certainly not violence, so they > adapt themselves to the nature of the medium and the > audience." > > A good example that Weiman and Tzfati point to is the Web > site run by the Zapatistas, the Mexican underground fighting > for Chiapis independence against the federal government. > Their site promises that it was designed to be viewed > properly with Mozilla, Opera, and Linux browsers - > alternative Web browser's to Microsoft's, and therefore a > dig at the corporate giant, and by implication, announcing > to the site visitor that this is an anti-capitalist, > anti-corporate site. It's not atypical of alternative Web > sites trying to reach millions of Web travelers who are fed > up with Microsoft's domination of the PC. Visitors to the > site will therefore identify with the campaign against > globalization and especially the Nafta agreement between the > North American countries. > > But the Zapatista perception of the global village is not > limited to technical affairs like which browser to use. The > organization pushes issues like freedom of speech, human > rights, social justice, and opposition to corporate > globalization, no less than it emphasizes the messages of > its charismatic leader SubCommandante Marcos, who already in > the mid-1990s was using a laptop, modem and e-mail to send > his message to supporters worldwide. Two years ago, at his > prompting, hundreds of hackers conducted digital warfare on > the official Web site of the president of Mexico, planting > pro-Zapatista messages on its pages. > > Who are these visitors to the terror group Web sites? > Potential supporters? International Web surfers? The > enemy? Weiman and Tzfati believe its a combination of all > three, but not in equal measure. > > Third World countries do not have widespread Internet > penetration, and the Net is certainly not the preferred > method of communication yet in those countries where the > terror groups are based. So, there's an emphasis on the > international visitor to the site, as evidenced by virtue of > the site's often being in at least English and French, and > sometimes German. > > Those using native languages are rarer, and are an > indication of the groups' efforts to drum up local support. > Weiman and Tzfati say those sites tend to carry detailed > historical information, and much material on local issues. > Some of the sites they examined - 16 sites owned by 14 > groups in 1998, and > 29 sites run for 18 groups in 2002 - also ran small online > shops to sell T-shirts, flags and other items with the > organization's logo. And it's rare to find a link to the > "enemy" > sites at the terror group Web sites. > > Hamas and Hezbollah are different Unusual in all these > respects, therefore, are the Hezbollah and Hamas sites, > aimed at the "enemy" and rife with violence. Both > organizations are well-aware of the spreading influence of > the Internet in Israel and made a deliberate choice to use > the Net as a propaganda tool in their cause. They appeal > directly to an Israeli audience, and in their presentation, > says Weiman, "Let the chips fall where they may." > > Both Web sites make no effort to hide their violence against > the Israel Defense Forces and the Israeli pubic. On the > contrary, they provide a lot of information on violent > activity by the organizations, sometimes even in real time, > as in the case of the three soldiers kidnapped from Mt. Dov > in October 2002. > They carry video clips - not always authentic - of attacks > on Israelis, as well as horrific images of bodies. > > "They are conducting psychological warfare," says Weiman, > "which means trying to frighten and demoralize the enemy," > and he goes on to quote one of Hezbollah's leaders, Ibrahim > Nasser a-Din, who was quoted at the site as saying "through > the Internet the Hezbollah has entered Israeli homes, > creating an important psychological breach." > > Weiman says the "Hezbollah and Hamas Web sites carry daily > reports, some of which are invented and inflated, about > their operations. But you can be sure that if something > important happens, the Web sites will carry it. As > propagandists, they are playing between the desire to > frighten the Web site visitor and the desire to demoralize > the visitor. > > They try to make the visitor believe that his own leadership > is untrustworthy and if only he accepted the `enemy's' > goals, `everything will be fine.'" Their rhetoric, says > Weiman, "is direct. > Other groups, no less violent, display doves and songs. The > Hamas and Hezbollah aren't interested in the international > community. They are interested in the local audience and > believe they are having an influence." > > Qaida vanishes In the last three years, since the first > study and its follow-up, some organizations have disappeared > from the Web, while others have changed address and servers, > often in other countries from where they started. The most > interesting of the sites to have disappeared between 1998 > and 2002 is, unsurprisingly, Qaida. It used to keep its > servers n Indonesia, but a few days after September 11, the > site vanished from the web under mysterious circumstances. > Nowadays, Osama in Laden's messages are issued via > sympathetic sites, but their credibility is in doubt. There > is no real Internet representation for America's greatest > enemy. > > Another change that took place between the two survey > periods was the growth in content at the sites. While in > 1998, most of the sites were limited to text-only materials, > now they carry songs, speeches, and video. But most > interestingly, there are few that carry any interactive > areas - no forums, chats, discussion groups. "Anyone can > get into a chat or a forum," > says Weiman, "and they don't want to encourage that. They > want to control the discourse. They don't want someone to > expose the fact that a photo might be counterfeit, and they > certainly don't want someone articulate enough to start a > discussion that is more articulate and coherent than their > messages. They aren't really proponents of interactivity > and open discourse." > > http://www.virtualjerusalem.com/news/mediawatch/?disp_feature=I8p7to.var
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