EARTH: YOUTUBE.COM, THE JIHADISTS NEW FRONT IN THE PROPAGANDA WAR

Militant Islamic groups open new propaganda front in war on terror

LONDON: With just one click, anyone with an Internet connection can watch videos of bombings and sniper attacks against U.S.-led forces in Iraq — shot, edited and broadcast by Islamic militants on YouTube, the world's largest video sharing portal.

With the global spread of high-speed Internet connections and the anonymity afforded by the world's biggest and busiest sites, extremists have found a new forum for displaying largely unregulated propaganda, viewed by up to 100 million people a day.

On Friday, prosecutors in Britain charged a man with plotting to kidnap and kill a British soldier — an act that was reportedly intended to be posted on the Internet. Until recently, videos shot by terror groups were posted predominantly on specialist Internet sites, which only those knowing what to look for could find. But now more are turning to mainstream sites like YouTube to maximize viewers.

"They can always bring down a video, but it's very easy to create a new one. It's like an uphill treadmill for YouTube," said Sajjan Gohel, director of international security at the London-based Asia-Pacific Foundation, a counterterrorism think tank.

Jeremy Curtin, a U.S. State Department official responsible for monitoring Internet propaganda, said authorities were aware of the footage on sites like YouTube but had not made any real progress in tackling the problem.

"It's new to everybody, we are trying to find out how best to engage with Internet companies," he told The Associated Press.

European intelligence agencies, while acknowledging existence of the videos, also say there is little they can do to stem the tide.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief of staff Thomas de Maiziere, who oversees intelligence agencies, said authorities are struggling to glean information from cyberspace.

"Trying to uncover Internet meetings of terrorists is like searching for a needle in a haystack," he told the online magazine Netzeitung. "The security agencies have their hands full trying to keep pace and get into these chat rooms."

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By the time the U.S. government figures out how to engage the "internet companies" the 'war on terror' shall be over...


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