Stratfor often suffers from lack of imagination... B http://counterterrorismblog.org/
No Limits By Roderick Jones The thoughtful private Intelligence company Stratfor <http://www.stratfor.com/> just released a piece suggesting what it thinks are the limits to jihadi terrorists being able to conduct their terrorist planning and training online: The <http://www.stratfor.com/products/premium/read_article.php?id=299829&selecte d=Analyses> Role and Limitations of the 'Dark Web' In jihadist Training. Stratfor acknowledges that the Internet has been an enabler for terrorism but it doubts that the required tradecraft of terrorist operations can be taught online. Where Stratfor makes an error in this article is in not taking account of the enhanced capabilities of 3-D virtual worlds to assist the next generation of jihadi terrorists. The educational abilities of virtual worlds have been well-documented and as Stratfor points out bomb-making is best learnt from an expert. With the abilities available within virtual worlds there is no reason why this knowledge cannot be passed from teacher to pupil within a persistent 3-D environment. The real-time communication systems incorporating VoIP and the ability to produce sophisticated, 'working' 3-D models makes training in the engineering of terrorist technique a current reality. But Stratfor, on this occasion, also makes the wider mistake of looking at the Internet as it is today, when the Internet always exists in the future. Therefore, while Stratfor rightly points to the limitations of Google Earth <http://earth.google.com/> as a terrorist reconnaissance tool it fails to account for the Internet of tomorrow where target locations can be re-created in virtual worlds and attacks can be planned and practiced. It isn't just virtual worlds but other applications that are making use of the explosion of data available to the ordinary user in order to create sophisticated digital tools, which will in time supplant Google Earth as the terrorist tool of choice. New software from Microsoft's research lab entitled, Photosynth <http://labs.live.com/photosynth/> meshes with online photo sharing sites to deliver highly intricate 3-D models of real-world buildings and environments. Terrorists are understandably interested in any application that enhances their reconnaissance capability without exposing them to risk and photosynth fits that category. Conducting pre-attack surveillance is often when terrorist cells are at their most vulnerable - digital tools can reduce these vulnerabilities. Technology companies are developing enhanced representations of the real world almost daily and these can clearly be corrupted for extremist use. Jihadi digital natives will increase the sophistication of their platforms to further enhance their potency - the limitations Stratfor correctly identifies will rapidly fall away. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
