Current List of Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations with presence on the Internet

In 1998, fewer than half of the 30 terrorist organisations maintained websites.

By the end of 1999, nearly all 30 terrorist groups had established their presence on the net.

Today there are more than 40 active terrorist groups, each with an established presence on the internet. In 2003-05, more than 4 300 websites serving terrorist and their supporters.

Abu Nidal Organization (ANO)
Abu Sayyaf Group
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade
Ansar al-Islam
Armed Islamic Group (GIA)
Asbat al-Ansar
Aum Shinrikyo
Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA)
Communist Party of the Philippines/New People's Army (CPP/NPA)
Continuity Irish Republican Army
Gama’a al-Islamiyya (Islamic Group)
HAMAS (Islamic Resistance Movement)
Harakat ul-Mujahidin (HUM)
Hizballah (Party of God)
Islamic Jihad Group
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU)
Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) (Army of Mohammed)
Jemaah Islamiya organization (JI)
al-Jihad (Egyptian Islamic Jihad)
Kahane Chai (Kach)
Kongra-Gel (KGK, formerly Kurdistan Workers' Party, PKK, KADEK)
Lashkar-e Tayyiba (LT) (Army of the Righteous)
Lashkar i Jhangvi
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG)
Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM)
Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK)
National Liberation Army (ELN)
Palestine Liberation Front (PLF)
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLF)
PFLP-General Command (PFLP-GC)
al-Qa’ida
Real IRA
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)
Revolutionary Nuclei (formerly ELA)
Revolutionary Organization 17 November
Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C)
Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC)
Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso, SL)
Tanzim Qa'idat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn (QJBR) (al-Qaida in Iraq) (formerly Jama'at al-Tawhid wa'al-Jihad, JTJ, al-Zarqawi Network)
United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC)

Question: will I be helping them to publicise their websites if I attach their weblinks here? Anyway, if I could find any, I would link it here.

However, their websites are obviously not really 'Google-friendly" (though Google said they won't censor any anti-semitism websites) and website addresses are always changing to escape vigilance. Some are password-protected. Many websites just suddenly emerge, frequently modify their formats, and then swiftly disappear—or, in many cases, seem to disappear by changing their online address but retaining much the same content.

Source: US Department of State - Office of counterterrorism

How Al-Qaeda use the World Wide Web?

Just like other political organisations, Al-Qaeda use the internet for marketing, information distribution, networking, research, fund raising, recruiting and operations.

More than 4 000 terrorist websites, such as Al Qaeda's (entry page shown), have proliferated since 2001.

They also operate online chat rooms, forums, discussion boards, Q&A sections etc. It is also said they will track website visits and send follow-up emails to visitors!

Further reading

Terrorist online gift shop

Terrorists sites also offer online gift shops.

Visitors can purchase or download for free posters, books, videos , pictures, audiocassettes and discs, stickers, badges, symbols and calendars.

Some websites also distribute practical terrorist manuals and guidebooks, turning websites into virtual training camps.

(This 'terrorist bag' in the picture is not bought from their websites, it is a counter-terrorist gift bought in the US by my friend Kendy! Thanks for this timely new year gift!)

New Terrorism, New Media

Tech-savvy terrorists are now fighting a "virtual" terror war! How modern terrorism manipulates advantages of internet?

Internet is just an ideal place for terrorist-as-communicators as the cyberspace is decentralised, not subjected to control or restriction, it is not censored and it allows access to anyone who wants it.

The structure of modern terrorist organisations in many ways is compatible with the structure of the Internet.

The loosely knit network of cells and subgroups typical of modern terrorist groups takes full advantages of the internet for intergroup and intragroup networking.


Source:

They are media specialist!

Let's begin on the terrorist side. Terrorists are media specialists. They just know how to get your attention and guarantee media coverage by enhancing their actions' news value. How?

(1) the degree of violence applied; the number of the status of the victims

(2) Use of symbolism : actions are carried out at a time of place with a special meaning for the attacked country

(3) performance of a very spectacular or special deeds likely to appeal to the emdia

The 911 attack possesses all the above elements and has been said to be an ultimate PR stunt.

Brigitte Nacos, professor of political science at Columbia University, commented ,"it was the very terrorists who loathed America's pop culture as decadent and poisonous to their own beliefs and ways of life turned Hollywood-like horror fantasies into real life hell."

Further reading:
Hobsbawm, J. (2001, September 16). On public relations: How they held all of us hostage. The Observer.

From media specialist to PR guru

Yes, suicide bombing, claiming responsibilities of terrorist acts are effective in gaining media coverage but are certainly old tricks.

Except from grabbing media attention, what's more? If just as Edward Bernays said, "PR is the engineering of consent", surely terrorist are also seeking on new ways to gain sympathy and recognition while publicising their ideology. However, they no longer required doing it solely through the traditional media.

The anti-terrorist war might have driven Al-Qaeda away from their camps, terrorists now turn to the internet. Since 2001, terrorist websites have proliferated. Terrorist are also turning to new platforms like comics books and video games to promote and infiltrate their ideologies into youngsters' mind.

This could be a disturbing trend. Some say this is even more dangerous than real guns and weapons since it perverts people's mind, especially the next generation.

You might not aware what you are reading is actually from Al Qaeda and you could be their next target audience. Of course you might not be persuaded, but how about thousands and millions of young children in the Muslim world and in the West?