London Daily Telegraph
January 2, 2009
Pg. 11
Al-Qaeda Using Gambling Websites To Launder Money, Says Terror Expert
By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent
Islamic terrorist networks are using gambling websites to launder money, according to security analysts.
Terrorism experts warned the security services that the internet is increasingly being used to train terrorists and raise money and has become the primary medium for promoting radical Islam.
Al-Qaeda wants to create an "online university of jihad'' that is recruiting and training potential terrorists in Britain without them having to risk travelling to camps in Pakistan, they said.
The terrorist network has also used computer experts to develop encryption software, known as Mujahideen Secrets 2, to allow militants to communicate by email without fear of interception by intelligence services.
Speaking at a select conference on the terrorist threat to Britain, experts from Jane's Intelligence Group said an online community was growing with younger and more impressionable people inadvertently sponsoring terrorism.
Terry Pattar, a specialist in counter-terrorism with Jane's Strategic Advisory Services, said: "Al-Qaeda want to create a university of jihad online, both in a spiritual and financial sense.
"They want a community that can carry out attacks without having to travel abroad for training.''
He said the internet had been used to raise funds for Afghan terrorists and online gambling sites had been used to launder the money.
Youngsters are invited on to security-protected areas after they have been recruited by "proving themselves on online forums''. Analysts are encouraging moderate Muslims to enter the online discussion sites to dismiss the extremists' arguments that gain popularity among the young.
Security sources have told The Daily Telegraph that they are fighting a new battle against al-Qaeda on the internet.
The fight against extremists was one of "ideas, not weapons and a campaign of internet, not training camps'', an intelligence source said.
He described their target as "a 17-year-old who has no criminal record, who sees images on a screen, talks to his friends but never touches a terrorist''.
Terrorist tactics online include the work of a specialist group calling itself the Al Ansar Media Battalion. It posts videos of American and British troops being blown up to "make people here feel they are taking part in what is going on over there'', Mr Pattar said.
Terror groups in Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan continue to use Google Maps as an information resource for targeting.
An insurgent sniper called Juba, who claimed to have killed 140 US soldiers, is said to have a substantial following under the name Baghdad Sniper on the Facebook social networking website. He is thought to have been killed by coalition forces.
The European Commission's anti-terrorism unit has promised to tighten legislation across the Continent in an attempt to target the grooming of young Muslims for terrorism over the internet.
Under the EU proposals, there would be a criminal offence of "public provocation to commit a terrorist offence'' which would include "the distribution, or otherwise making available, of a message to the public, with the intent to incite'' acts of terrorism.
The planned offence would carry a minimum jail term across the continent. Legislation already exists in Britain to jail for up to seven years those who incite terrorism over the internet.
*****End of News story -- Trilemma man's response below****
Even if the EU were actually able to control internet communications within its juristiction without effective global control terrorists will continue to use the world wide web to train and finance their mass murdering and destructive capacity.
Labels: Cyber technology. Terrorist financing., Dual Use technology
