Is shutting down cyber jihad possible?
Does closing down terrorist jihadist websites actually achieve anything? Won't another one just simply spring up elsewhere on the Internet immediately afterwards? A new report from Washington-based terrorist monitoring organisation, Memri, seems to suggest otherwise
The report claims that the exact number of jihadist websites and forums has been a matter of debate among experts; the figures proposed range from a few dozen to thousands. The surge in the number of Islamist blogs in the past two years has intensified the debate and made calculation even more difficult. Scrutiny of many of these cyber domains, however, reveals that though the number of jihad domains is indeed high, only a handful of these domains can be considered significant and prominent sources of jihad material.
Currently, fewer than five forums are used by jihad media companies as a direct channel for disseminating their products (e.g., jihad films, texts, and audios). Moreover, only half a dozen Islamist forums attract multi-participant discussion among jihadists and jihad sympathizers worldwide. Most jihad cyber domains initiate very little, if any, original discussion, primarily reposting material from popular jihad forums. Hence, disabling the few prominent domains could seriously cripple Islamists' ability to conduct mass online discussions, and could also hamper the rapid spread of jihad material in cyberspace.
The report claims the most popular jihadist forums are Al-Faluja, Shabakat Ansar Al-Mujahideen, Shabakat Al-Tahadi Al-Islamiyya, Shumukh Al-Islam, Shabakat Hanein, Shabakat Al-Mujahideen Al-Electroniyya, Mutadayat Al-Boraq Al-Islamiyya, and Ma'arik Islamic Network. Of these forums and websites, five are hosted by Western hosting companies. Please visit www.memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi for further information, some of which may surprise our readers regarding the location of domain names.
