Terrorism on the High Seas of Twitter

Earlier this month, at the Federal Communications Commision (FCC) Oversight Hearing, U.S. Rep. Joe Barton announced his plan to stop terrorists by shutting down websites including social media networks. “”ISIS and the terrorist networks can’t beat us militarily, but they are really trying to use the Internet and all of the social media to try to intimidate and beat us psychologically,” Barton said. (Brodkin)

FCC Chairman, Tom Wheeler, answered “I’m not sure that our authority extends to picking and choosing among websites, but I do think there are specific things that we can do. Wheeler noted that Congress could update its definition of a “lawful intercept” under the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, in which an ISP intercepts a suspect’s Internet traffic and sends a copy to a law enforcement agency performing surveillance.” (Brodkin)

“It’s a clear and present danger,” Barton said. “They have declared war against us and they’re using the Internet in an extremely offensive, inappropriate way against us, and we ought to be able to make it, at a minimum much more difficult and hopefully, absolutely shut it down.” (Brodkin)

Congress need not worry, though. Hacktivists have taken up the fight against ISIS on Twitter. “To date, hacktivists claim to have dismantled some 149 Islamic State-linked websites and flagged roughly 101,000 Twitter accounts and 5,900 propaganda videos. At the same time, this casual association of volunteers has morphed into a new sort of organization, postured to combat the Islamic State in both the Twitter “town square” and the bowels of the deep web.” (Brooking)

While most members of online hacking groups feel that stopping the Islamic State from using the web for recruitment and acts of terrorism is right, some struggle with the conflict of censoring the free speech of this group. “ Asked if their destruction of Islamic State websites sets a bad precedent for freedom of speech online, the answer is immediate: “No,” said @DigitaShadow. “Free speech isn’t murder.” (Brooking)

Sources:

“Anonymous vs. the Islamic State.” Foreign Policy Anonymous vs the Islamic State Comments. Web. 3 Dec. 2015. <http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/11/13/anonymous-hackers-islamic-state-isis-chan-online-war/>.

Brodkin, Jon. “Congressman: To Stop ISIS, Let’s Shut down Websites and Social Media.” Web. 3 Dec. 2015. <http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/11/congressman-to-stop-isis-lets-shut-down-websites-and-social-media/>.