Uses Of The Internet By Terrorist Organizations example essay topic

Media and Civil Society / Week 10: The Internet and Uncivil Society Daniel Ruiz de Garibay- 0407756 The Internet and Terrorist Organisations Introduction Some scholars have argue that the nature of the Internet: the ease of access, the chaotic structure, the anonymity, the international character, the vast potential audiences and the fast flow of information, make of the Internet an easy and effective arena for terrorist organisations. This essay focuses on the uses of the Internet by terrorist organizations and addresses the following question: Is the use of the Internet by terrorists different from that of other, "conventional" means of communication? Political communication and terrorism are intimately related. In fact, terrorism can be defined as violence used to articulate a political message (Reilly: 234). For communication scholars terrorism can be can be analyzed much like other media of communication, consisting of four basic components: transmitter (the terrorist), intended recipient (target), message (bombing, ambush) and feed back (reaction of target audience). However other authors argue that terrorism is aimed not at the actual victims, but rather to people watching on televisions (Weizmann, 2002: 317).

Thus, Numerous terrorist organizations have realized the potential of media-oriented terror as a means of effectively reaching huge audiences. In this sense the Internet may play an important role. Traditionally governments and several media organizations have response in a restrictive way to the attempt of terrorist to manipulate and use the media in their own benefit. These included limiting terrorists' access to the media, reducing and censoring news coverage of terrorist acts and their perpetrators, and minimizing the terrorists' capacity for manipulating the media.

However, because of its nature, the Internet allows terrorist organizations to reach their audiences and transmit message easier and freely that through the conventional mass media. The Internet most notably offers: o easy access; o little or no regulation, censorship, or other forms of government control; o potentially huge audiences spread throughout the world; o anonymity of communication; o fast flow of information; o inexpensive development and maintenance of a web presence; o a multimedia environment (the ability to combine text, graphics, audio, and video and to allow users to download films, songs, books, posters, and so forth); and the ability to shape coverage in the traditional mass media, which increasingly use the Internet as a source for stories. The use of the Internet by Terrorist organizations The Internet has proved to be of utility for terrorist organizations in two different ways. First, terrorist will use the Internet to communicate "overtly" like other civil society actors. This include from disseminating information to fund-raising activities and propaganda. The second use refers to the use of information and communication technologies to plan and perpetrate acts of terror (Reilly, 241)".

Overtly" communication: Content of the sites By analyzing the content of the terrorist's web sites it can be deuced the aim of the group when posting the site. The most common content of the sites is information. They usually include information about the history of the organization and biographies of its leaders, founders, heroes, commanders or revered personalities, information on the political and ideological aims of the organization, and up-to-date news. Most of the sites give a detailed historical account of the movement or the organization, a review of the social and political background, a selective description of its notable activities in the past, and its aims.

National organizations generally display maps of the areas in dispute. Almost all sites detail their goals in one way or another. Sometimes this is done explicitly, sometimes indirectly. Sometimes it is a separate section, and sometimes intermixed with other content. The most common presentation of aims is through a direct criticism of their enemies or rivals. By contrast, almost all sites avoid presenting and detailing their violent activities.

Although the organizations behind these sites have a record of bloodshed, they hardly ever record these activities on their sites. The exceptions are Hizbollah and Hamas. Hizbollah shows updated statistical reports of its actions ("daily operations") that display in minute detail all of the organization's operational successes. A separate page enumerates the number of dead "martyrs", along with the number of "Israeli enemies" and "collaborators" killed. As Maura Conway explains, the motive for this unique approach has been Hizbollah's attempt to influence the public debate in Israel about withdrawal from Lebanon..