Ready, Fire, Aim! - Mihail's Public Blog: Al-Qaeda's use of technology, dot-com dreams

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Tuesday, November 12, 2002

Al-Qaeda's use of technology, dot-com dreams

The use by Al Qaeda of technology has stirred fears and concerns in the West, and is detailed in this Wall Street Journal story (subscription required)  based on findings to date including the identifying of the Chinese technician who helped set up a site in South China:

All he could make out was the site's address: "maalemaljihad.com." Mr. Chen had no idea that meant "Milestones of Holy War." Nor that China, one of the world's most heavily policed societies, had just become a launchpad for the dot-com dreams -- and disappointments -- of Osama bin Laden's terror network.

...The Milestones of Holy War site signals much more modest cyber-skills. Al Qaeda operatives struggled with some of the same tech headaches as ordinary people: servers that crashed, outdated software and files that wouldn't open. Their Web venture followed a classic dot-com trajectory. It began with excitement, faced a cash crunch, had trouble with accountants and ultimately fizzled.

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