Terror on the Internet

Terrorists have discovered the internet as a valuable medium for furthering their cause. The number of websites operated by terrorists exploded from only 12 in 1998 to more than 4,800 today. “Postmodern terrorism… is less centralized, less structured, less organized, and far more dangerous than the terrorism of the late twentieth century,” asserts Gabriel Weimann in his newly released book Terror on the Internet: The New Arena, the New Challenges.

Using data gathered from an exhaustive eight year study spanning four continents, twenty languages, and numerous dialects, Weimann analyzes how terrorists’ daily use of the Internet aids in planning deadly attacks. He tracks how terrorists participate in data mining, networking, recruiting and mobilizing, distributing instructions and online manuals, planning and coordinating attacks, and fundraising over the web. Weimann focuses on terrorist organizations including al Qaeda, the Chechen rebels, Afghanistan’s Laskhar e-Toyba, and Hamas to reveal the pervasiveness of using internet forums, chat rooms, and web sites for modern terrorist operations.

New America Foundation Schwartz Fellow and CNN Terrorism Expert Peter Bergen, author of The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of Al Qaeda’s Leader and Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden, moderated.

An audio recording of this event (in MP3 format) can be downloaded here.

Participants

• Gabriel Weimann
  Professor and Chair, Department of Communication, Haifa University, Israel; Author, Terror on the Internet: the New Challenges, the New Arena
• Peter Bergen
  Schwartz Senior Fellow, American Strategy Program, New America Foundation; Author, The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda's Leader