ON MARCH 25th, a Taliban website claiming to be the voice of the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” boasted of a deadly new attack on coalition forces in that country. Four soldiers were killed in an ambush, the site claimed, and the “mujahideen took the weapons and ammunition as booty”.
However, the most remarkable thing about the message was how it was delivered. The words were the Taliban’s, but they were flashed around the globe by an US-owned firm located in a leafy corner of downtown Houston.
The Texas web-hosting firm, ThePlanet, says it rented cyberspace to the group and had no idea about its Taliban connections. For over a year, the militant group used the site to rally its followers and keep a running tally of suicide bombings, rocket attacks and raids against US and allied troops. The service costs about $70 a month, payable by credit card.
The Taliban’s account was pulled last week when a blogger noticed the connection and called attention to it. But the odd pairing of violently anti-American extremists and US technology companies continues elsewhere and appears to be growing. Intelligence officials and private experts cite dozens of instances where Islamist militants sought out US internet firms, known for their reliable service and easy terms that allow virtual anonymity, and used them to incite attacks on Americans.
“The relatively cheap expense and high quality of US servers seems to attract jihadists,” said Rita Katz, co-founder of the Site Intelligence Group, a private company that monitors the communications of Muslim extremist groups. Even al-Qaeda has sometimes paid American companies to serve as conduits for its messages, said Ms Katz, who has tracked such activity since 2003.
Militants’ use of US web hosts has sparked spats between the US and its allies, as well as endless debates over whether it is better to shut down the websites when they are discovered or to let them continue to operate. By allowing them to stay online, intelligence analysts can sometimes learn about the leadership and structure of terrorist groups, some analysts say.
“You can learn a lot from the enemy by watching them chat online,” said Martin Libicki, a senior policy analyst at the Rand Corporation, a non-profit research organisation. Mr Libicki said the bloggers rarely spill secrets, and most are “probably using this more for public affairs rather than recruitment”. For instance, the Afghan group that rented web space from ThePlanet offered daily updates on skirmishes between Taliban fighters and US “invaders” and Afghan “puppet army” troops. The website, www.alemarah1.com, often claimed the group’s forces had killed coalition troops and even destroyed warplanes and tanks – accounts that bear little resemblance to coalition field reports on those dates.
Another Taliban website, Toorabora.com, continues to operate, using the services of Free Web Town, a template service run by Atlanta-based Tulix Systems.
Representatives for Tulix and ThePlanet say their policies prohibit the airing of violent or hateful messages. Both companies said they act quickly to shut down any site that breaks the rules.
