Nobody's right, if everybody's wrong, Jawa Report.This article by Howard Altman, Do Cybersleuths Fight Terrorism or Cause Trouble?, immediately brought to mind the line from Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth", If nobody's right, everybody's wrong.
Read More "Nobody's right, if everybody's wrong" On one side the professionals saying "cybersleuths" should butt out of the counter-intel/counter-agitprop game. On the other side amateur counter-jihadis saying the professionals are using an outmoded paradigm.
All of the complaints the professionals have against the amateurs have merit: they get in the way, they mess up ongoing investigations, they make unsubstantiated claims, they collect evidence in a sloppy and sometimes illegal way, websites taken down simply pop up elsewhere, etc.
All of the complaints the amateurs have against the professionals have merit: they are hamstrung by outmoded legal rules, the do not fully appreciate the role of propaganda in producing future terrorists, they treat online terrorism as a crime protected by normal evidentiary rules, they do not have the manpower necessary to do the needed work, etc.
A comprehensive strategy for dealing with the cyberjihad would combine an effort at shutting down certain jihadi websites, while closely monitoring others for intelligence. One cannot shut down all of these websites, nor is it desirable. There is at least some intel value in keeping some of them open.
Neither can one monitor all of them. The notion that there is a giant computer deep in the salt mines of West Virginia monitoring all websites and e-mail communications is a myth. Thousands of websites require hundreds of people manning them constantly. The professionals just aren't doing this................
A comprehensive strategy would funnel ehadis from the hundreds of peripheral websites to the dozen or so websites at the heart of the online jihad. Monitoring a few websites is much more feasible. The lesson here is that amateurs often don't know what they are doing and sometimes through their ignorance interfere with the work of the professionals.
The professionals may know what they're doing, but continue to work piecemeal, with no grand strategy, and without the resources necessary to do their jobs..........
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