Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Search and you shall find more on searching the net, including an interview with Sherry Turkle, a long time writer/observer on the net based at MIT.

Guardian Unlimited | Online | Space setter Review of MSN Spaces.

TCS: Tech Central Station - Toy Soldiers

Iran's bloggers get caught in crossfire of 'war on terror', csmonitor.com "Iran's dissenting and liberal voices, reeling from a crackdown in cyberspace by their country's old guard, now worry about a new challenge from an unexpected quarter: America."

Jihad Unspun - Al-Qaida's Dr. Ayman al-Zawahri Says Holy War Is Path To Reform, Feb 03, 2005

Islam Online, Young Arab Engineers: Against All Odds "Growing intolerant to the current state of the high technology sector in the Arab region, three young Arab engineers are seeking to sow the seeds of change. Hence, Handasa Arabia (or Arabic Engineering), a non-profit, open-source organization, was born."

Photo of DAM - relates to the story below on Middle Eastern rap:

BBC - Radio 3 - Andy Kershaw - 30 January 2005 I've included this here for the inclusion of Palestinian rap group DAM [previously blogged], who provide a session and very interesting interview with references. You can listen to this broadcast (not sure for how long). Tracks are "Born Here" - single - dur: 3.27, "There Is Still Goodness In Life" - dur: 3.47, "A Stranger in my Own Country" dur: 3.42, "Freestyle" dur: 4.17 . "Born Here" is in Hebrew. More information on DAM can be found on their website. I have a long-term interest in rap, by the way, although I no longer wear a baseball hat back-to-front.

Telegraph | News | Alert over Islamic terrorists who tried to kill bin Laden: "Al-Takfir originated as a peaceful Islamic movement in Egypt in the early 1970s but turned to violence and was implicated in killing two government ministers. It operates as a largely unstructured entity with only loose links to al-Qaeda and with no identifiable leadership structure. The report says it 'exists as a web incorporating scattered groups of militants, separated by geography, connected only by radical ideology''." more on al-Takfir.

icSouthlondon - Mosque is too full for its own good: "The mosque is one of only a handful in the country that pray in English. It also houses a counselling service and out-of hours national curriculum classes for youngsters. "

:::- ARAB TIMES - Web threat: Jihad 'til Judgement DayGot most of them ... we'll get the rest :::: "An Islamist group identifying itself with Saudi militants warned Kuwait in a statement posted on the Internet Tuesday that it faced a fierce war unless US forces left the country."

Straits Times, Zealous religious cops trigger Muslim backlash - Feb 2, 2005 more about attitudes than techology ...

Islamist group may hit Europe, Jane's warns - Feb 2, 2005: "Takfir wal Hijra, whose name means 'Anathema and Exile', features high on the European Union's blacklist of terrorist organisations which was compiled in 2001 in the wake of the Sept 11 attacks in the United States. " [subscription site]

Xinhua - Egyptian intelligence chief meets Islamic Jihad head on ceasefire: "Egypt's intelligence chief Omar Suleiman on Tuesday met with Ramadan Shalah, secretary general of the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad (holy war), to discuss an end to anti-Israeli violence."

Black Britain | News | Daily News and Sport: "Sheikhs and Imams from countries in the Horn of Africa will meet in Djibouti to disavow any Islamic backing of the widespread and harmful practice of female genital mutilation." Here is the No Peace Without Justice conference website for this significant issue.

Aljazeera.Net - European imams to receive funding

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Film | Festival show for Baghdad Blogger: "A film based on the internet musings of the 'Baghdad Blogger' has been shown at the Rotterdam Film Festival." I look forward to seeing this in due course. Salam Pax also featured on a BBC3 comedy show last week, "The Comic Side of 7 Days", which I happened to catch. It was a sharp and funny programme (shame about the ponderous title), nestled in the BBC comedy schedule alongside Little Britain ...

AP/Boston.com, Islamic Web site claims U.S. soldier captured; but report not immediately confirmed: "Islamic Web site claims U.S. soldier captured; but report not immediately confirmed "

FrontPage magazine.com :: A Muslim Scholar Takes on CAIR by Jamie Glazov Interview with Prof. Khaleel Mohammed, Assistant Professor at the Department of Religious Studies at San Diego State University, whose opinion is that : "...the more I surf the internet, the more I see 'Islamic' sites that seek to mask the problems within contemporary Islam, and lay the blame on outsiders." Certainly some controversial discussion points here.

File share blunder leaks military docs to blogger - silicon.com "According to web blog Geenstijl, the problem occurred when an administrator within the military's border control division took unencrypted documents home to work on them and somehow managed to drop the files into the shared folder he used to swap content with other Kazaa members."

CPILive.net, Sun Microsystems at Cairo ICT

CPILive.net, Pan Arab Web Awards draws region-wide entries "“Internet penetration in the Arab world is fast approaching a saturation point. All sections of society and economy in the region has realised the power of Web and IT in increasing productivity, competitiveness and creating employment opportunities for the young people who are entering the job market. The award has been envisioned to boost the creative and technical excellence of the Web designers, software coders, engineers and entrepreneurs,” said Jawad Al Redha, Co-Chairman, BSA ME." I'm interested to see the entries for this one.

NewsNow: AFP/tucsoncitizen.com, Islamic Web site claims U.S. soldier captured, threat to behead him "Our mujahadeen heroes of Iraq's Jihadi Battalion were able to capture American military man John Adam after killing a number of his comrades and capturing the rest," said the statement, signed by the "Mujahedeen Brigades."

The Counterterrorism Blog: Christians on PalTalk Chat Service Tracked by Radical Islamic Web Site "A radical Islamic Web site systematically tracks Christians on PalTalk.com, an Internet chat service on which a New Jersey man received a death threat two months before he and his family were murdered. The password protected Arabic Web site, at the address www.barsomyat.com, features pictures and information about Christians who have been particularly active in debating Muslims on PalTalk."

Free Babar Ahmad I was interested to read about this website in Q-News. It contains background information to the Babar Ahmad case, including photographs of alleged police brutality. The website supports Babar Ahmad, seeking:

"1) To act as an information resource providing case facts, excerpts of legal documents and medical reports, photographs and news relating to the case.

"2) To humanise Babar Ahmad and to show him as a normal, professional and kind human being rather than a "terrorist".

"3) To enable the public to form a more balanced and fair opinion on the case of Babar Ahmad."

Ahmad remains in custody in the UK, and is fighting extradition to the USA.

Crosswalk.com - Saudis Accused of Spreading 'Hate Propaganda' in US allegations based on an extensive report from the Center for Religious Freedom. This is available as a PDF from here

Scotsman.com News - International - Newspaper claims tsunami was retribution for area's sex trade: "An article in Attajdid, the newspaper of Morocco's moderate Islamic Justice and Development Party (PJD), claimed that the disaster was brought on the area by God displeased with its promotion of sex tourism. "

Aljazeera.Net - Bashir: Bali bombing not jihad Latest on Abu Bakr Bashir : "Referring to the Bali nightclub and Marriott hotel bombings, he said: "I disapprove, if they were regarded as jihad, because they were executed in peaceful or non-conflict zones."

BBC NEWS | World | South Asia | Bangalore faces e-waste hazards

AFP/turkishpress.com, Video purports to show downing of British plane in Iraq: Jazeera

inform.kz, Will M. Shakhanov wake up Moslems of Kazakhstan?, 1 Feb 04: "Ecclesiastic directorate of Moslem people of the Volga region (Russia) has got its own Internet site where one can get much interesting information about Islam in the Russian Federation." Background and opinion regarding Islam in Kazakhstan. Interesting material here (no direct link to the website discussed).

Gulf Daily News, Al Qaeda warns of more attacks: "Al Qaeda's group in Iraq last night vowed to continue its 'holy war', slamming historic elections seen as a success by the US-allied government as an 'American game', according to an Internet statement."

washingtonpost.com: In Netherlands, Anti-Islamic Polemic Comes With a Price "Sometimes the threats come by e-mail. Other times, warnings show up on Internet chat sites. Occasionally they are short video clips. The latest has a soundtrack of Arabic song and automatic-weapons fire, and a photograph of the intended target -- a Dutch lawmaker, Geert Wilders."

Asia Times Online, The Homeland Security State, Feb 2 2005 "Under provisions of the USA Patriot (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism) Act, the Department of Justice has been collecting e-mail and IP (Internet protocol, a computer's unique numeric identifier) addresses, without a warrant, using trap-and-trace surveillance devices ("pen-traps"). Now, the FBI, Justice's principle investigative arm, may be monitoring the web-surfing habits of Internet users - also without a search warrant - that is, spying on you with no probable cause whatsoever." article by Nick Turse, originally in TomDispatch

Zaman Daily Newspaper, Yusuf Islam to Sing for Tsunami Victims: "The famous singer noteed in an announcement broadcast on his Internet site that he wants to go to Aceh region that was hit by the tsunami and pray there."

commondreams.org, Bringing It All Back Home: The Emergence of the Homeland Security State

arabnews.com, Scholars, Intellectuals Urged to Join Hands in Anti-Terror Fight The ministry, which has prepared a number of special radio and television programs to air during the occasion, will also distribute booklets and cassettes enlightening the public on terrorism and extremism. It has set up a website on the Internet to enhance public awareness on terrorism and extremism."

Boston.com / News / World / Insurgent Iraqi group claims responsibility for downing of British military plane

Reuters AlertNet, Dutch Court sentences rappers over threat lyrics as circulated on the net too

Islam Online - Iraqi Resistance Group Says Not to Target Elections: "Three days ahead of the controversial vote, a leading Iraqi resistance group vowed not to target polling stations or attack innocent Iraqis, saying the real battle is against the occupiers.

"In a statement, a copy of which obtained by IslamOnline.net, the Salah Al-Dine Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Front for Resistance, said they would not be dragged into a battle against their own people."

technologyreview.com, Terror’s Server useful 5-page article by David Talbot + discussion with Richard Clarke (>Notebook in side bar). PDF available.

arabicnews.com, Al Azhar Grand Imam regrets linking jihad to terrorism, 27 Jan 05: "The Grand Imam of Al Azhar Mohamad Sayyed Tantawi affirmed that peace was one of Islam's principles, pointing out that Islam considered any attack on a human being as an attack on all humanity."

Aljazeera.Net - Bloodiest day for US forces in Iraq

FBI chides Hotmail and Yahoo! for sidestepping UK laws | The Register

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Clarke backs down on detainees: "Mr Clarke is expected to outline to the Commons today his proposals to amend the legislation to meet the human rights concerns raised by the House of Lords. He is likely to propose a new civil order, similar to an anti-social behaviour order.

"It would impose strict surveillance conditions on terror suspects, including banning them from using the internet and mobile phones, and possibly a new form of house arrest." It would be interesting to see how this proposal might be implemented in practical terms.

Arab News, 'Islam for Dummies' Required Reading for Army Officers in America: "The US military is learning an embarrassing lesson. Lack of knowledge about Arab culture and Islam is resulting in civilian and military deaths that could easily have been avoided if only soldiers and Marines had been 'armed' with knowledge. "

MSNBC - Video shows U.S. hostage pleading for life Cites the Islamic Army website: "Enemies of God such as the Americans and their agents, the hypocrites and the apostates, are attempting to make the infidel elections succeed at the end of the month, the statement said. To that end, it said, the headquarters of the Islamic Army in Iraq is giving its orders to all troops affiliated with it everywhere to escalate their operations to the maximum."

BBC NEWS | UK | Guantanamo four arrive back in UK

BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | US 'terminates' Iranian website ISNA quickly relocated elsewhere.

AFP/Yahoo! News - Muslim activists rip, deface offensive advertizing in Britain: "British Muslim activists have stepped up a campaign to deface or rip down advertising billboards featuring scantily-clad women in communities with large numbers of Muslims, the media reported. " This needs to be read in conjunction with the 'spoof alert' contained on http://www.geocities.com/no_adverts/, but it hasn't stopped the story being reported widely.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: AP - Middle East, Saudi clerics point militants toward Iraq: "Fundamentalist Islamic leaders in Saudi Arabia are telling militants intent on fighting 'infidels' to join the insurgency in Iraq instead of taking up Osama bin Laden's call to oust the Saudi royal family at home, say Saudi dissidents who monitor theological edicts coming out of the kingdom."

IslamOnline - Muslims and Islam in European History Textbooks: Seeking Security Through Culture: "Using the media is an important tool to empower the people. The information in the media does not merely reflect the world, but constantly shapes it as well. In this regard, the Internet can play a key role; it has helpful characteristics that give people the chance to speak out about their fears, feelings, and views. The impersonal medium makes it no more a just one-way traffic, but we must remember that we constantly influence others and we are constantly influenced by external factors."

reveiltunisien.org, Tunisia: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2003: "Security forces routinely monitored the activities, telephone, and Internet exchanges of opposition, Islamist, and human rights activists and sometimes harassed, followed, questioned, assaulted, or otherwise intimidated them, their relatives, and associates."

Europe getting aggressive with jihad 'recruiters': "In nightly sermons broadcast on the Internet, Sheik Omar Bakri Muhammad, a 47-year-old cleric born in Syria, has urged young Muslim men all over the world to travel to Iraq to fight on the front line of 'the global jihad,' investigators say.
."

MSNBC - In Iraq, text messages help track insurgents: "Although a cell phone displays the caller's number, phone records are so chaotic in Iraq that chances are slim anyone could track down a tipster. And text messages can be sent to the most trusted officer, a far safer avenue than calling a police station that might be riddled with informants. "

MSNBC - Al-Qaida texts to be published in U.S.: "The original thoughts of Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders will be made available in English next year in 'The Al-Qaida Reader,' whose publisher says it is intended to educate the American people."

MSNBC - Al-Zarqawi lieutenant captured, Iraq says "Sami Mohammed Ali Said al-Jaaf, also known as Abu Omar al-Kurdi, was arrested during a raid in Baghdad on Jan. 15, a government statement said Monday."

The New York Times > Washington > Intelligence: Pentagon Sends Its Spies to Join Fight on Terror Technology angle here: "The small clandestine teams, drawn from specialists within the Defense Intelligence Agency, provide the military's elite Special Operations units with battlefield intelligence using advanced technology, recruit spies in foreign countries, and scout potential targets, the officials said."

Times Online - Sunday Times, Muslims boycott Holocaust remembrance something of a generalistic headline this, which is contradicted by the material in the article.

Times Online - World, Hatred, bombs, hope and confusion marks a desperate country's trial of democracy: "In the anonymity of the internet chat room - one of the few places where Baghdad voters can freely exchange views - Iraq's much-feared civil war has already broken out.

"Long live the Sunnis. Death to the Shia,- proclaims alilove 19992000. "God damn everyone who chooses to collaborate with the Sunni traitors," fires back Krar32. "

GP > Mideast & Southeast Asia > Kurds and the Kurdistans: "Those shocked of the collapse of Soviet power founded Workers' Communist Party (WCP) in Iraq and Iran. This party has spectacular presence in the virtual reality, in internet." For examples, see Worker-communist Party of Iran's website

CNN.com - Experts: Cyber-crime bigger threat than cyber-terror - Jan 19, 2005

CNN.com - Al-Zarqawi group claims Iraq bomb - Jan 24, 2005 "A militant group led by al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi says it carried out a suicide car bomb attack near the headquarters of interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's party, according to an Internet statement."

CNN.com - Video apparently shows public beheadings - Jan 22, 2005: "A video posted on an Islamist Web site apparently shows two Iraqis being beheaded on a city sidewalk as pedestrians and vehicles pass by."

CNN.com - Purported al-Zarqawi tape: Democracy a lie - Jan 24, 2005: "An Internet recording claiming to be from wanted terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi condemned democracy as 'the big American lie' and said participants in Iraq's January 30 election are enemies of Islam."

AFP/turkishpress.com, Ansar al-Sunna executes Iraqi soldier: video: "The Al-Qaeda linked Army of Ansar al-Sunna released a video Sunday purporting to show the execution of an Iraqi national guard officer accused of helping US forces in the northern city of Mosul.

"The video, posted on the Internet, showed a man sitting on a chair and holding up an identity card bearing the inscription 'Defense Ministry, Abdul Jabbar Ali Abdullah, colonel.' "

Reuters, Militants use web in battle against polls: "Sunni militants bent on sabotaging Iraqi elections are waging an increasingly vociferous battle on the Internet, denouncing the polls as an 'infidel' practice which is part of Washington's 'crusader' war against Islam."

BBC - Religion & Ethics - Sunday short piece on religion and the internet, includes interview with this blogger ... direct link here to audio file

E:M | US companies ban Internet for Iranians, almost, 22 Jan 05

BBC NEWS | UK | Fears of 'abuse' photos backlash

Aljazeera.Net - UK soldier admits Iraq abuse

الأخبار - دولي - صور تعذيب سجناء عراقيين تثير صدمة في بريطانيا

Wired News: A Fitful Relationship With Tech Wired have picked up the previously blogged AP story on tech and hajj. This one doesn't require registration.

The New York Times, Pro-American Iraqi Blog Provokes Intrigue and Vitriol, January 18, 2005 I was interested to read this, which refers to Iraqi Bloggers Central and Iraq the Model (both referred to in the Blogosphere linking >> scroll down this page). The accusations have been flying for some month now. I was interested to learn that some of the bloggers had been touring the USA, attending Harvard's blogging conference (see last week's entries) -- and (in some cases) meeting President Bush ("accidentally").

Saudi Arabian Television Channel 1 alternative feeds from Saudi TV (see blog below).

Saudi TV this promises a live feed from the hajj - although the feed was down at the time of writing.

turkishpress.com, Nearly two million Muslim pilgrims flock to city of tents

Black helicopters hover over MS anti-spyware play | The Register some important points/opinion here on acquisition of Giant Software by MS

eweek.com, Man Admits to Tsunami Phishing Scam

The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 21:4 has reviewed Islam in the Digital Age. The review is by Karim H. Karim of Carleton University, Ottawa.

Ross Mayfield's Weblog: The Network's Interpretation of Islam a belated entry, but some interesting dialogue from Zia Sardar and others on the net and Islam.

Independent, Vatican says bishop kidnapped in Iraq has been released: "The Roman Catholic archbishop kidnapped in Iraq has been freed, the Vatican said today."

CNN.com - Video: 8 Chinese hostages in Iraq - Jan 18, 2005: "A video showing eight Chinese construction workers taken hostage in Iraq surfaced Tuesday.
It shows the men holding opened passports as an Arabic speaker demanded that the Chinese government declare it would not allow its citizens to work for Americans in Iraq."

NEWS.com.au | Cheap broadband for India (January 17, 2005)

Jihad Watch: Britain's online imam declares war as he calls young to jihad contains a number of responses and opinions related to the Times Online article

Women's magazine offers tips to terrorists - The Washington Times: World - January 17, 2005 this is quite an old story (previously blogged), and the al Khansa magazine can be difficult to track down.

AP, Radical Muslim cleric walks fine line in London sermons: "Sheik Omar Bakri, a supporter of al-Qaida, is typical of radical clerics in Britain. He has condoned suicide bombings in Iraq, but only indirectly encourages young Muslims here to join the insurgency in Iraq." This relates to the previously blogged story from the Times (see below).

BreakingNews.ie: Minnie Driver to rebuild mosques in Thailand a somewhat unusual headline, this.

IslamOnline.net - Ten Blessed Days opinions of Sheikh Muhammad Saleh Al-Munajjid adapted for islam-online.net

Islam Online, Fox Cuts Out Anti-Muslim Scenes from “24” "The Fox television network has decided to remove some stereotypical aspects about American Muslims from its action drama “24” thanks to immediate action from community leaders." Well, there has been an online campaign in relation to 24/4 and here is the result.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Tsunami disaster spurs video blogs otherwise known as vlogging: "Even a week after the event, some sites hosting tsunami videos were getting 300 to 400 hits a second."

The Journal of Turkish Weekly/Terrorism Monitor, Radical Islam in the Netherlands: "The role of the 'veterans' is not the only decisive factor in the development of the new recruits. Indeed internal dynamics within groups of radical young Muslims play an important role. For instance, the developing patterns of strife in arenas of conflict like Chechnya, Afghanistan and Iraq are subjects of intensive discussions (on the internet) among groups of young Muslims. Some members of these 'discussion groups' are very young (aged 16 and 17). Indeed a few of them took their first steps towards the realization of a jihad before the age of 18. Such was the case with several young persons of Moroccan decent arrested in 2004."

The New York Times > New York Region > Mourners Link Religious Feud to 4 Slayings: "Mr. Armanious, who worked for the banquets department of the Westin Princeton hotel, had been threatened with murder by someone in an Internet chat room during an argument about Christianity and Islam, according to members of his church and other acquaintances. The authorities would not confirm or deny this, but they dismissed newspaper accounts that a tattoo of a cross on Sylvia's wrist had been slashed in the killing."

Reuters/SignOnSanDiego.com, In Iraq -- Ansar Islam group denies it killed Iraq cleric -Web: "Iraqi militant group Ansar al-Islam denied on Saturday it was behind the killing of an aide to top Shi'ite Muslim cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, according to an Internet message. "

Times Online, Britain's online imam declares war as he calls young to jihad, 17 January 2005 Omar Bakri Mohammad's webcasts are discussed: "The Times monitored Mr Bakri Mohammed's nightly webcasts in which he declared that the 'covenant of security' under which Muslims live peacefully in the UK had been 'violated' by the Government’s tough anti-terrorist legislation, The Syrian-born radical said: "I believe the whole of Britain has become Dar ul-Harb (land of war)." In such a state, he added, "the kuffar (non-believer) has no sanctity for their own life or property.""

Times Online - 'I don't want you to join me, I want you to join bin Laden' Omar Bakri's PalTalk discussions receive further publicity in this expose.

AP Wire | 01/17/2005 | Technology Changing Hajj Pilgrimage: "Modern technology has changed the way Muslims experience the hajj pilgrimage, a rite required of able-bodied faithful who can afford it at least once in a lifetime. It has also perhaps changed the way they experience being Muslims, as Islamic militants have popularly seized on the Internet as a tool for publicizing their extremist, often violent, version of the religion."

The New York Times > International > Middle East > An Iranian Cleric Turns Blogger for Reform: Mohammad Ali Abtahi's blog has featured several times in these pages, and I have written about him too - so it's interesting to get this update (following his resignation from the vice presidency last year). Seems he is now an advisor to President Khatami. Do visit webneveshteh and take a look. In particular, I've always found his photos interesting, outside of the commentary.

Wired News: Monster Fueled by Caffeine I liked this article, where the company Delicious Monster work out of a Seattle coffee house (sounds rather like an ex-sit.com). The cataloguing software also sounds useful. Media libraries are very useful study tools, especially in Islamic Studies contexts. Shame then that I couldn't get into their website with the latest version of Firefox (Mac). Safari (still an excellent browser, despite the Firefox hype) made it.

The Star (Malaysia), TechCentral, Infosecurity agency Niser in training tie-up: "The National ICT Security and Emergency Response Centre (Niser) has entered into an agreement with the nonprofit International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium or (ISC)2 to provide IT security professionals in Malaysia with training and testing. "