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Terror Networks
Tracing, closing down terrorist websites not as easy as it sounds
2004-07-02
The war on terrorism is increasingly calling on the skills of computer technicians, hackers and even Internet "vigilantes" to fight the battle. As terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda turn to the Internet to broadcasts their messages, recruit members, and raise money, law enforcement officers are honing their own technical skills to trace offending websites and computer users.

James Kirkhope is the research director for the Washington-based Terrorism Research Center, which examines links between terrorism and technology. He said that once a suspected terrorist website appears, law enforcement officers around the world begin the hunt to find it and, if warranted, close it down. "One of the main steps law enforcement agencies do is to identify [the] web server of a particular website, and that’s usually the source that law enforcement will go to to pull the plug on terrorist websites," Kirkhope said.

But the task is not so easy. While each server and personal computer on the Internet has a unique address, locating an offending website is not as simple as -- for example -- tracing a telephone call.
But, but ... John Kerry says all we need is better law enforcement.
One of the main obstacles is the nature of the Internet itself -- relatively open and unregulated, yet highly interconnected. Kirkhope said one of the tricks terrorist groups use is to link a website from server to server -- to "bounce" it, as the practice is known. This, in effect, conceals the identity of the original server and the site’s author.
Posted by:Dan Darling

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