A Digital Haven...

May 2008

A digital haven for terrorists on our own shores? If you use one of Americas top Internet service providers, you may share server space with an organization that enables worldwide terrorism, says a new study by Tel Aviv University. A workshop on terrorist organizations and the Internet was organized for the North American Treaty Organization (NATO) by the Netvision Institute for Internet Studies (NIIS) and the Interdisciplinary Center for Technology Analysis & Forecasting, both of Tel Aviv University. Berlins Institute for Cooperation Management and Interdisciplinary Research (NEXUS), affiliated with the Technical University of Berlin, also participated. The findings were presented in Berlin to a closed audience of high-ranking representatives from NATO in February 2008. Enlisted by NATO officials to study the web activity of terrorist organizations, researchers found that some of the world’s most dangerous organizations are operating on American turf. Hezbollah, the Islamic Jihad, and al-Qaeda all have websites hosted by popular American Internet service providers - the same companies that most of us use every day.