Friday, July 24, 2015

Chattanooga

Rita Katz, SITEIntelGroup, Information about the Chattanooga Shooter is Disappearing from the Internet "Abdulazeez did what jihadists are asked to do prior to execution of their attacks: delete important information that could provide insight into their networks. Jihadi recruiters often advise prospects to “delete your social network accounts or stay inactive,” as well as “all the nasheed [Islamic chants], videos, pictures, messages” prior to their attacks or migration to jihad."

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

'Oldest' Koran fragments found in Birmingham University

BBC News, 'Oldest' Koran fragments found in Birmingham University - "Radiocarbon dating found the manuscript to be at least 1,370 years old, making it among the earliest in existence." Hopefully, we will be able to see a digitised version of this in due course. It's quite a find, and is generating discussion online.

Cardiff Isis terrorist reportedly killed in Syria air strike

walesonline.co.uk, Cardiff Isis terrorist reportedly killed in Syria air strike, 22 Jul 2015 "Experts are 'confident' the 21-year-old, who left Wales to join the terrorist group and appeared in a propaganda video, is dead"

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Thursday, July 16, 2015

WikiLeaks Cables Show a Saudi Obsession With Iran

NY Times, WikiLeaks Cables Show a Saudi Obsession With Iran

How to Defeat ISIS with Twitter Trolls

gizmodo.com, How to Defeat ISIS with Twitter Trolls  "New Jersey senator Cory Booker once noted that ISIS has “fancy memes” — so why shouldn’t we get some weaponized memes of our own? That’s what Kalev H. Leetaru believes. He’s a senior fellow at the George Washington University Center for Cyber and Homeland Security and a council member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on the Future of Government. And he’s written an article for Foreign Policy about how we could run a great psychological ops campaign against ISIS." Discuss ...

'Why the Islamic State leaves tech companies torn between free speech and security'

washingtonpost.com, Why the Islamic State leaves tech companies torn between free speech and security, 16 Jul 2015 "The social-media savvy of the militant group is raising difficult questions for many U.S. firms: how to preserve global platforms that offer forums for expression while preventing groups such as the Islamic State from exploiting those free-speech principles to advance their terrorist campaign."

Derby community leader: up to 12 extreme Islamic radicals in our city

Derby Telegraph, Derby community leader: up to 12 extreme Islamic radicals in our city "A LEADING member of Derby's Muslim community says he believes there are up to 12 extreme Islamic radicals in the city who he fears are using the internet to groom young people to go to Syria."

Islamic State Launches Internet Channel In Russian

eurasiareview.com, Islamic State Launches Internet Channel In Russian Directed At Post-Soviet States - OpEd

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

#mecca_live


  

This is just some of the coverage/images associated with #mecca_live; I plan to write about this in due course (for my next book).
 
Independent, The Snapchat images that allowed the world to see the beauty of Mecca "Muslims were able to collaborate and share personal videos of Mecca using Snapchat's Live Story feature, which collects submitted clips and splices them together before releasing the best footage to all 100 million Snapchat users."

 aljazeera.com, Snapchat opens digital window on Mecca to millions, 14 Jul 2015 "Digital analytics site Topsy recorded more than one million mentions on Twitter alone, as Muslim users first lobbied Snapchat to feature the city and then reacted to the stream of content that flowed online once the hugely-popular, social media app agreed to do so."

Buzzfeed, Snapchat’s Live Stream Of Ramadan Prayers From Mecca Hailed For Its Portrayal Of Islam

Twitter, #mecca_live

Business Insider Indonesia,  Here are photos from Snapchat’s Mecca live story, which opened up Ramadan’s most vibrant city to the non-Muslim world

Turkey blocks access to pro-ISIS websites

Reuters/ara.tv, Turkey blocks access to pro-ISIS websites, 14 Jul 2015 "Turkey has blocked access to more than half a dozen Islamist news websites this week, prompting one group claiming allegiance to Islamic State in Syria and Iraq (ISIS) to accuse Turkey of persecuting Muslims and warn of unspecified retaliation."

Monday, July 13, 2015

Blocking Twitter is not the solution

Abdulrahman Al-Rashed, Asharq Al-Awsat, Blocking Twitter is not the solution, 12 Jul 2015 opinion piece "The chronology of the rise and fall of organized terrorism and its resurgence proves that the problem is deep-rooted and that it is not possible to crack down on terrorism without addressing the root problem. As such, blocking some tools, like the Internet, Twitter, and Facebook is certainly not the solution."

The 'eight faces' of anti-Muslim trolls on Twitter

Wired UK, The 'eight faces' of anti-Muslim trolls on Twitter "A criminology lecturer has published a report dissecting online Islamophobia, identifying what he believes are the eight types of troll responsible for much of the hate speech."

Snapchat Palestine

Palestine Studies, Snapchat Palestine "The social media video-sharing app Snapchat recently featured the Israeli city of Tel Aviv as part of its “Stories” features, which focuses on cities from around the world and residents may post videos for a daylong live stream of city life. The focus on Tel Aviv, however, coincided with the one-year anniversary of last summer’s Israeli war on Gaza ..."

Raqqa

middleeasteye.net, In IS-ruled Raqqa, new class divide creates tensions with local Syrians "'Muhajireen' foreigners 'live like princes' while locals in Raqqa complain of harassment and being treated like second-class citizens/"

Dismantling ISIL's propaganda machine

James Denselow, aljazeera.com, Dismantling ISIL's propaganda machine "In addition to civil society boycott of the ISIL's media products, there needs to be creative, organised and similarly determined efforts to undermine ISIL's seeming monopoly over symbolism."

Thursday, July 09, 2015

Sawab Center

Embedded image permalinkUPI, U.S., UAE launch social media center to counter IS propaganda efforts "The Sawab Center will use "direct online engagement" to counter IS ideology and present "moderate and tolerant voices,"the State Department said. Based in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, the center issued a message on Twitter and YouTube saying the IS is spreading hate, fear and intolerance." They are on Twitter here @sawabcenter

Syrian activists say IS supporters hacked their website

AP/Yahoo, Syrian activists say IS supporters hacked their website, 8 Jul 2015 ""Hackers claiming to be supporters of the Islamic State group on Wednesday hacked the website of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the head of the monitoring group said."

Wednesday, July 08, 2015

Cyber Caliphate Hackers Not Linked to Islamic State

freebeacon.com, Cyber Caliphate Hackers Not Linked to Islamic State, 7 Jul 2015 "The State Department report, “Who Is Cyber Caliphate? Re-examining the Online ISIL Threat,” was produced by a unit of the Department’s Office of Diplomatic Security, which supports American businesses overseas. It describes Cyber Caliphate as a relatively unsophisticated group that has conducted cyber attacks against perceived enemies of the Islamic State."

Sunday, July 05, 2015

Isil trawls social media for Irish jihadi brides

Isil trawls social media for Irish jihadi brides - Independent.ie "Although policy makers and families appear most concerned about young Muslims, Dr [Maura] Conway said people of other faiths are converting under the influence of Isil as opposed to Islam. Last week, parents from Ireland's Muslim community called for "tougher restrictions" on access to Islamaphobic content, including beheadings, shootings and mass executions. Fardus Sultan, a Muslim mother and business woman said: "Muslims have an added concern with extremism online. We still face the same issues as all parents but nowadays we have that element as well.""

Here's the manual that Al Qaeda and now ISIS use to brainwash people online

businessinsider.com, Here's the manual that Al Qaeda and now ISIS use to brainwash people online "The Times notes that the tactics are similar to those laid out in an Al Qaeda manual called "A Course in the Art of Recruiting." Though ISIS and Al Qaeda are now two separate organizations, ISIS recruiters seem to follow many of the same basic guidelines for luring people into their group and indoctrinating them. And with the rise of social media, reaching these recruits across the globe has become even easier."

'Laugh out loud: UK schoolgirl jihadi's reaction to Tunisian massacre'

Daily Mail, Laugh out loud: UK schoolgirl jihadi's reaction to Tunisian massacre "The sickening remark came in an extraordinary series of exchanges with an undercover Mail on Sunday reporter, who Abase believed to be another British teenager planning to run away to join barbaric IS. Abase encouraged her to make the dangerous trip to marry a frontline jihadi fighter."

Free Wi-Fi in Makkah Haram courtyard

ara.tv, Free Wi-Fi in Saudi Arabia’s Makkah Haram courtyard "The presidency staff will use this popular wireless networking technology to send guidance and awareness text messages to pilgrims and visitors to the Grand Mosque, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Tuesday."

New and noted: Digital passages: migrant youth 2.0

Leurs, Koen (2015) Digital passages: migrant youth 2.0: diaspora, gender and youth cultural intersections. MediaMatters . Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. LSE Research Online  I have yet to read this.

ISIS - executions in Palmyra

ara.tv, ISIS teens execute 25 soldiers in Syria’s Palmyra, 4 Jul 2015 "The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria on Saturday released a grisly video showing 25 Syrian government soldiers being executed by teenagers in the ancient amphitheater in the city of Palmyra."

ISIS Is Winning The Internet Game

OnPoint - WBUR, ISIS Is Winning The Internet Game This is available to download - I have yet to listen to it. Details follow: "The so-called Islamic State – ISIS – celebrated its one-year anniversary this week. A large part of its growth has happened online. It has a sophisticated propaganda machine, with tens of thousands of accounts spreading its messages. And those messages are reaching Westerners, Americans. We’ll talk to a reporter who tracked the radicalization of Alex, a 23-year-old Sunday school teacher and babysitter. And we’ll hear from the former State Department head tasked with countering ISIS’ online propaganda. This hour On Point: Alex’s story, and the ISIS online propaganda strategy."

Rival militants don orange outfits to kill alleged ISIS fighters

ara.tv, Rival militants don orange outfits to kill alleged ISIS fighters

Wednesday, July 01, 2015

Gloucester Imam combating Islamic extremism with iPad

gloucestercitizen.co.uk, Gloucester Imam combating Islamic extremism with iPad " Imam Hassan of Masjid-e-Noor is joining male and female Imams and scholars from across the UK in a digital campaign titled 'Ramadan Reminders' to help young Muslims at this time of year."