Hacking Magazine

Aaron Y. Zelin, Jihadology, New magazine released: “Magazine of Supporters of the Technical Base for Information Security and Hacking #1″, May 29, 2011 [posted retrospectively]

Ratko Mladic can be extradited

LA Times, War crimes suspect Ratko Mladic can be extradited, judge rules, 27 May 2011

Marcus Baram, Huffington Post, Ratko Mladic Arrested: How A War Criminal Spent 16 Years On The Run

Manal al-Sharif: update

Robert Booth and Mona Mahmood, Guardian, YouTube Saudi woman driver faces further 10-day jail term, 26 May 2011 "Eman al-Nafjan, a teacher and PhD student in Riyadh who writes a blog under the name Saudiwoman, told the Guardian that Saudi conservatives and the wealthy were determined to keep women from driving because it blocks anyone who cannot afford a driver from competing for jobs." Good article!

Check Saudiwoman for more updates and comments on this.

If you haven't already seen this:



And this has just come in:

David Leigh, Guardian, US put pressure on Saudi Arabia to let women drive, leaked cables reveal, 27 May 2011 "The Obama administration has been quietly putting pressure on Saudi Arabia to allow women to drive, according to leaked US embassy cables."

Al-Qaeda has sleeper cells across west Africa: experts

AFP: Al-Qaeda has sleeper cells across west Africa: experts, 26 May 2011 "Al-Qaeda makes use of sleeper cells in several West African countries, security experts said Thursday after a regional meeting on terrorism and trans-border crime in Gambia.

""In countries like Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, across the sub-region, we have Al-Qaeda sleeper cells," said a statement issued after the meeting organised by the African Centre of Terrorism Research, an African Union body, in collaboration with Spain."

See ACRST for basic information on the African Centre of Terrorism Research

'Poverty, al-Qaeda, tribal conflict: Yemen's problems'

Frank Gardner, BBC News - Poverty, al-Qaeda, tribal conflict: Yemen's problems, 26 May 2011

Human Milk 4 Human Babies - Malaysia

The Star, Forming breast milk-sharing network: "Montreal (Canada)-based Emma Kwasnica launched a global milk-sharing network online in October last year. Known as Human Milk 4 Human Babies (HM4HB), the network has 130 chapters spanning over 50 countries. The Facebook groups provide a space where families in need can connect with women who have milk to share. As Kwasnica’s philosophy states, “breast milk is not some sort of scarce commodity; it is a free-flowing resource,” the network doesn’t endorse buying or selling of breast milk.

"In Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur-based Nadine Ghows took the initiative to start the Malaysian chapter in November last year. “We are essentially a network that facilitates mother-to-mother connections for the purpose of providing human milk for human children,” explains Ghows, a breastfeeding and gentle birth advocate.

"As a Muslim, Ghows was also concerned about how the group should handle milk-sharing from an Islamic perspective."

The Malaysian group has used Facebook extensively: Human Milk 4 Human Babies - Malaysia

Turkey: Internet release of intimate videos guts opposition party ahead of election -

AP/The Washington Post, Turkey: Internet release of intimate videos guts opposition party ahead of election, 24 May 2011 "The black-and-white videos are grainy. Sometimes, they flicker. Yet the images are stark and often graphic, appearing to show senior members of a Turkish opposition party in liaisons with women who are not their wives.

"The spies did not just rig hidden cameras. They posted taunting screen text, an eerie soundtrack and even an adults-only rating before slapping the intimate footage on the Internet, unleashing a sex scandal that could benefit the government in elections next month."

'Use modern information media to spread Islam’s message: Al-Asheikh'

P.K. Abdul Ghafour, Arab News, Use modern information media to spread Islam’s message: Al-Asheikh, 26 May 2011 "Islamic Affairs Minister Saleh Al-Asheikh has emphasized the need for utilizing modern information media including the Internet and FM radio stations to spread the message of Islam."

also points to www.alssunnahnet.com, which has got some interesting features. I'll take a closer look at a later time.

Bin Laden and The IT Crowd: Anatomy of a Twitter hoax

BBC News - Bin Laden and The IT Crowd: Anatomy of a Twitter hoax, 24 May 2011 "Rumours circulating on Twitter that Osama Bin Laden was a fan of The IT Crowd sitcom were an elaborate new media hoax. Here comedian Graham Linehan explains how he organised the ruse."

Report: 'Global mapping of technology for transparency and accountability'

Renata Avila, globalvoicesonline.org Technology for Transparency: Final Report, 22 May 2011

Get the report (in various versions) here: transparency-initiative.org, Global mapping of technology for transparency and accountability

I haven't read this one yet, but have added it to my reading list. Looks interesting!

KSA: Women, driving and net activism [update]

MuslimMatters.org, The Rosa Parks of Saudi Arabia: Women Challenging the Ban by Driving | comprehensive coverage relating to women driving in Saudi Arabia. It links to tweets and video. The reader discussion is also interesting.

Follow this on twitter, for example here #Women2Drive.

There's also a Facebook page #Women2Drive


Also see this video on YouTube, SaudiWomenDrive.mov:

Related coverage:

aljazeera.net, Saudi woman detained for driving, 22 May 2011

Turks stand up to internet censorship

Jillian York, aljazeera.net, Turks stand up to internet censorship, 22 May 2011 "From Ankara to Istanbul, and in numerous cities in between this past Sunday, thousands of citizens took to the streets in protest of proposed new internet filters. In Istanbul's Taksim Square alone, more than 50,000 people, largely organised on social networks, gathered in protest. More than 600,000 people joined a Facebook page called "Internetime Dokunma!" or "Don't Touch My Internet!""

For more information, see Facebook, Internetime Dokunma!

'Broadcasting Martyrdom' op-ed

Brooke Goldstein and Elisa Rojas, frontpagemag.com, Broadcasting Martyrdom, 23 May 2011 op-ed discussion on broadcasting of Tuyur al-Janna and Lama Nestashed

Yemen telecommunications

I'm closely following #Yemen on Twitter today.

In the midst of all the events in Yemen, the following press release emerges from Saba Net, Telecom sector achieves remarkable advancement in Unity era, 21 May 2011 "Despite the Yemeni revolutions of September and October put the foundation stones for this sector, it was reinforced after the unification of the country in 1990 as Yemen practically reacted with the world development in the area of development and information technology.

"More efforts were exerted during the past period to cause a characteristic leap in this sector in the southern and eastern governorates in accordance with the same progress in the northern and western governorates."

Discuss.

‘Arabizi is destroying the Arabic language’

Just picked up this one up (a little late) via eAraby

Renad Ghanem, ‘Arabizi is destroying the Arabic language’, 19 April 2011

"Most Arab Internet users find this way easier than typing in Arabic. Teachers fear that this will weaken their Arabic language ability or even replace the language in the future. Arabic professional professors from the Arab world consider it a war against the Arabic language to make it disappear in the long run."

Other opinions are also presented in the article.

Online book sales flourish in the Arab world

gulfnews : Online book sales flourish in the Arab world, 23 May 2011 "The increasing number of internet users was also coupled with a shift in many people's attitudes towards the internet and its multiple purposes. Today, more people are turning to the web for the latest news, and more and more are even buying books on the internet."

I'm not sure if the Arabic version of iMuslims (forthcoming) will include an e-book edition. iMuslims English version is available as an e-book - it comes in at $154.97 in the Kindle store USA ...

63rd Nakba op-ed

op-ed, Abdullah al-Ahsan, just-international.org, 63rd Nakba: Has the Arab Uprising Made a Difference?, 19 May 2011: "Now the question is: why did the internet social network services cooperate with the uprising in various Arab countries but  declined to do the same in the case of Palestine?"

Anonymous and the Arab Uprisings

Anonymous and the Arab Uprisings | Yasmine Ryan | Voices | AllThingsD: "Anonymous’s rapid rise from the depths of geekdom to becoming a catalyst and nerve centre for real-life revolutionaries is one that has taken even some of its own members by surprise"

Wael Ghonim

Guardian, Arab spring: Google's Wael Ghonim on the fall of Mubarak, 18 May 2011 "I don't claim to be a leader. I don't think I am a leader anyway. I was just another guy in the movement," he told Google's Big Tent conference in London on Wednesday.

"Ghonim also played down talk that the Egyptian uprising was a "Facebook revolution"."

Sayf al-’Adl

Vahid Brown, jihadica, Sayf al-’Adl and al-Qa’ida’s Historical Leadership, 18 May 2011 "In light of the widely reported news that Sayf al-‘Adl (also spelled Saif al-Adel) has taken the reins of operational leadership within al-Qa’ida in the wake of the death of Osama bin Laden, I thought it would be useful to Jihadica’s readers to provide a bit of context about this man and about the significance, if any, of these reports (see, e.g., Musharbash and Bergen), all of which rely on the testimony of Noman Benotman, a former leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group"