Google, Yahoo, Microsoft Hosting Extremist Sites

The Docuticker website presents a “daily update of new reports from government agencies, NGOs (non-governmental organizations), think tanks, and other public interest groups.” One recent update covered a paper published by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

Their paper discussed the extensive use of the Internet by extremists. It also laid the blame for inciting three recent incidents on such websites:

The threat posed by Islamist websites has recently been demonstrated by three cases: the case the New Jersey group that planned a terrorist attack on FortDix; the planned terrorist attack on JFK; and the attempted car bombings in the UK. According to media reports, the terrorists in all three cases were inspired by jihadist websites. There were also two recent court cases in Britain and Switzerland in which terrorists were convicted of using Internet sites to promote terrorist activities.

MEMRI’s paper also listed a number of such sites, and the ISPs hosting them. Anyone thinking these websites probably reside exclusively outside the United States would be incorrect. MEMRI found several websites and forums on American ISPs; some of these sites are operated by groups deemed as terrorists by the US government.

In other findings, MEMRI discovered a couple of blogs on Google’s Blogger service (one has since been taken down), a Yahoo Group called Supporters of Jihad in Iraq, and a pro-Hizbullah group on Microsoft’s MSN portal.

MEMRI advocated a two-pronged approach to facing such sites: exposure and legal measures. Despite First Amendment concerns, the group said these sites violate provisions of US legal code that are aimed at terrorist organizations and their online activities.