Saturday, January 19, 2008

The Battlefield Near You

Ten new friends have just linked to your profile'. We all get these cheerful notifications from our favorite social networking software. But just who are your friends? And why are they interested in you? The Daily Telegraph reports, "British troops have been warned not to post personal details on internet websites amid fears that they will be targeted by British-based al-Qaeda terrorists. The warning, which states that al-Qaeda cells are increasingly using the Internet to track down potential targets, appeared in a "restricted" military security document distributed to Army units across Britain. The document reveals that troops using the Facebook, MySpace and Friends Reunited sites may potentially be most at risk.
The tactic of attacking British military personnel while off duty was used to great effect by the IRA.
the Internet plus the radical Islamic diaspora now means that there is no neat distinction between the battlefield and "home".