Sunday, March 22, 2009

Weekly Roundup

1 comment:

Unknown said...

In reaction to the guest lecturer and the recent readings we have had about terrorist utilization of the web to perform their operations, several concerns arise. Ultimately, based off of what we have read the idea that several countries across the world have laws that in a sense protect terrorists is absurd. What is impressive however is the virtual infrastructure that has been built over a relatively short period of time and capabilities that network has to coordinate attacks. One thing that I found interesting in the Washington post article was the idea that although the web is being used and even relied upon, that organizations like al Qaeda still rely heavily rely on ground forced to carry out attack. According to the article if countries target what those geographic areas, then the information shared on the web could drastically be reduced and ultimately weaken the organization. Although I am no expert, based off of the other information we have received and even information within the article, the problem stems much farther than the few territories where terrorist groups are able to survive. As the article puts it the “web has a shapeless disregard for national boundaries and ethnic markers. ” This idea leads me to my first point, where I think in a sense the world community has an obligation to adopt laws that target shutting these website down. Understandably, there a privacy concerns for the rest of the population, but if an organization like the NSA were able to clearly find intelligence on the internet, then countries across the world have an obligation to at the very least target the site. This in my opinion is not spying because the information is clearly available for all to see, but should not be protected is the ability to plot future crimes in open space. If enough intelligence can be gathered that shows intent, the website administrator and if possible the actually poster (which is understandably difficult to track and prove) should be targeted with legal action far more often than what we see today.

In response to: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/05/AR2005080501138_2.html