The Political Conundrum!

There has always been something of an ongoing debate in the Counter-Terrorism community about whether extremist online networks should be closed down. On the one hand closing them down would make some activities harder to achieve but on the other they provide a valuable insight into extremist thinking. Closing virtual networks down probably isn’t wholly possible given the ability to re-create your own communities using new identities or platforms. Furthermore, simply shutting a virtual network down would push it elsewhere and is a blunt way of dealing with a complex problem. However, this lesson or debate has not filtered into domestic concerns relating to online sex-predators.

There are of course of variety of sex-offender lists throughout the US and in some other western countries. Therefore, it is possible to exclude individuals from virtual communities, such as Facebook or MySpace based on this data and importantly add further information to this such as Instant Message profiles. This would therefore, work in a similar fashion to the airline watch-list maintained by the DHS, which famously and probably unfairly is best known for excluding US Senator Ted Kennedy from flying. In short a system, which compares a list of known sex-predators against the names on any virtual network is a pretty low-tech instrument with which to control a complex problem. Similarly, it does nothing to combat anonymous use of any system nor does it prevent anti-social elements from operating in other virtual spaces. In short a blunt and potentially ineffective tool. However, this is exactly what a company called Sentinel Tech offers to MySpace and has started a furor with Facebook because Facebook won’t use their services to ban sex-offenders (original story on TechCrunch). The populist tone struck by this company, MySpace and the Connecticut AG is in itself the first reason to be skeptical of this approach. But its seeming lack of sophistication in a world of extensive online behavioral knowledge is quite shocking. Surely it would be better to judge online behavior on what actually is being done online rather than matching names, emails or other online profiles, (which could have no relation to reality and is USA centric) to a sex-offenders register. This issue of controlling anti-social behavior in online networks is not new – the response remains old (How to prevent anti-social behavior in online social networks).

Sex-offenders create the hysteria but there of course other anti-social groups active across a variety of online platforms. There is little evidence to suggest banning them goes any way to curtailing their activities. In fact, the opposite may be true certainly one of the most effective campaigns against anti-social elements in a virtual space was the collective activity against the French National Front when it opened an office in Second Life. In that vein Facebook already has a ‘get child molesters off Facebook’ group.

Facebook’s chief privacy officer, Chris Kelly, has also questioned why there isn’t a national sex offender database. A very good question, and maybe one which the forthcoming economic stimulus plan could invest in. This could be used by all social networks to do preliminary filtering and act as a center for sharing expertise with other government agencies. The MySpace approach powered by Sentinel and supported by the Connecticut AG is not only blunt but also likely ineffective – in short the worst of all worlds and Facebook is correct to push back against this hue and cry.

So it is no secret that many of our enemies, and in fact Osama himself may be hiding in Pakistan. This is the country that all the plans are developed in on how to attack coalition forces, where the money and materials comes from (except for Iran on the western border), and generally where the real leaders of Al-Queda and the Taliban live. There is talk that the new administration is going to keep up the pressure on these bad guys by continuing to go after them in Pakistan. The US is also looking for new supply routes since Pakistan cannot safeguard our supplies from being destroyed. I wonder if once we quit routing supplies through Pakistan, if we will continue to be so tolerant of their proven support of our enemies.

Well there is a new poll out for you to choose how would you deal with them?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

A woman suspected of recruiting more than 80 female suicide bombers has been arrested, the Iraqi military said Tuesday, dealing a major blow to one of Iraq's insurgents' most effective forms of attack.

A deserter from the US army seeking asylum in Germany pleads his case Wednesday in a hearing that could have major political and legal ramifications.

Suspected Islamic militants blew up a bridge in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, closing a crucial supply line for NATO troops in Afghanistan as the military reported killing 35 extremists in the region.

The top U.S. military officer cautioned Monday against comparing the Pentagon's renewed focus on Afghanistan to the Vietnam War, citing terrorism and a nonoccupation strategy as "dramatic differences" between the two conflicts.

Kyrgyzstan's president said Tuesday that his country is ending U.S. use of an air base that has been key to military operations in Afghanistan, Russian news agencies reported.

Iran has launched its first domestically made satellite into orbit, its president said Tuesday. Like its nuclear program, Iran's space ambitions worry world powers because the same rocket technology used to carry satellites to orbit can also deliver warheads.

Iran has launched its first domestically made satellite into orbit, its president said Tuesday. Like its nuclear program, Iran's space ambitions worry world powers because the same rocket technology used to carry satellites to orbit can also deliver warheads.

As part of The Washington Institute's focus on Gulf and counterterrorism issues, my colleague Simon Henderson and I co-authored this piece on Qatar's move away from the Arab consensus and toward Syria and Iran, as evidenced most recently by its stance on Hamas:

Speaking last week in Qatar, Hamas leader Khaled Mashal thanked Qatar for its support and declared that Palestinian fighters had "won the war [in the Gaza Strip] by defeating Israeli plans." Mashal also lauded controversial Islamic scholar Yousef al-Qaradawi as the "shaikh of resistance." By tolerating such an event, Qatar, which hosts a vital U.S. command center as well as a substantial air wing and storage facilities, highlighted its diplomatic journey away from the Arab consensus -- via support for Islamist extremists -- toward an alliance with Syria and Iran. Qatar's developing stance hampers Washington's policies on Iran and the Middle East peace process.

The complete article is available here.

Note: The Institute announced yesterday that Kenneth L. Wainstein has joined the Institute as the Sheila and Milton Fine distinguished visiting fellow, focusing on counterterrorism issues. He was appointed as the nation's homeland security advisor by former president George W. Bush on March 30, 2008, and served in that position until January 20, 2009. Mr. Wainstein chaired President Bush's Homeland Security Council and reported to the president on a range of homeland security and counterterrorism matters. Mr. Wainstein will write and speak on emerging U.S. counterterrorism challenges in the Middle East, including the Gulf States.