NATION UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Monday, April 17, 1995
7A
Militants enter cyberspace
The Associated Press
A primer explains how to train for Islamic holy war. A San Diego organization recruits Muslims to fight Russians in Chechnya and relays communiques from insurgents in Algeria. The Palestinian group Hamas defends killing Israeli civilians.
These messages aren't being whispered in clandestine corners or mailed to news organizations in envelopes with cut-and-paste letters: They're being posted on the Internet, in public forums accessible to millions of people.
Cyberspace has become a new front in the battle for control of the land known as Palestine and for strictly religious Islamic rule in Algeria, Egypt and other countries.
The other end of the Mideast political spectrum is on-line too. Statements from Kahane Chai, a right-wing Jewish group banned in Israel and deemed terrorist by the U.S. government, are transmitted in Judean Voice, a new electronic newsletter from New York.
"Like every other weapon the Internet can be used for good or for evil," said a March 14 commentary. "It is up to us to learn how to master every weapon better than our enemies."
In many countries, particularly the United States, most if not all of these activities are legal, covered by free-speech guarantees. And even in some countries where such speech is banned, it can get through via the Internet.
These militants join many other extremists trying to use computer technology to get their message across: neo-Nazis and other white
"Like every other weapon,the Internet can be used for good or for evil."
Kahane Chal right-wing Jewish group
supremacists, Holocaust deniers and activists who advocate killing abortion providers.
Jewish organizations and other targets of such speech are concerned that their attackers now have a cheap and effective forum for propaganda. But free-speech advocates shun any attempts at censorship.
"The best way to counter hate speech is with more speech," said Eric Tachibana, on-line services coordinator for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which fights for free speech and privacy in cyberspace.
The overwhelming majority of messages on Mideast and Muslim issues are devoted to more mainstream, if heated, discussions of politics and religion.
One frequent topic is criticism of stereotypical portrayals of Muslims as bearded terrorists. Another is the meaning of the Arabic word "jihad," which some translate as personal striving to do good deeds in the name of Islam.
Others view jihad as spreading Islam by force — holy war — and the Internet has become a virtual battleground.
"Supporting Jihad is an Islamic obligation. It is a must for Muslim survival these days. Please donate to Jihad and Mujahideen," the San Diego-based American Islamic Group implored last June in its Islam Report, sent nearly daily to about 15 e-mail lists and electronic bulletin boards known as newsgroups.
Frequently included in the newsletter is the group's bank account number for wire transfers. Islam Report also regularly relays communiques from Algeria's Armed Islamic Group, including one threatening killings of female relatives of soldiers and police in the North African country.
Watchdog groups and law enforcement officials said it was impossible to gauge the effectiveness of such militant postings.
And if the Internet is being used for specific plotting, it likely would be in private e-mail that is encrypted or sent through one of a number of computers that remail messages anonymously.
Governments and mainstream organizations also find a voice on the Internet. The Israeli government has a sophisticated computer server for official information.
Free speech advocates said it was more dangerous to censor Internet messages than to allow extremist speech.
Tachibana of the Electronic Frontier Foundation said it was better to hope that groups that advocate illegal acts would be especially stupid and get caught.
Scientists research 'smart gun'
The Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A criminal grabs a gun away from a police officer, points it and pulls the trigger.
Nothing happens.
That's because it's a "smart gun" — one that can be fired only by someone with the code.
That code could be a ring worn by the officer or a remote control that sends a signal to a receiver in the gun's grip. It could even be a fingerprint.
Sgt. Bill Conroy, firearms training supervisor for the police department in Kansas City, Mo., said his No. 1 concern for such a gun was that it worked every time and did what it was supposed to do to eliminate the threat of the weapon being used against the officer.
And that's what scientists at Sandia National Laboratories are trying to achieve.
The lab, a Department of Energy installation best known for nuclear weapons research, received a $620,000 grant from the National Institute of Justice to develop a weapon that can be fired under all kinds of conditions — but only by people it recognizes.
The project manager, Sandia electrical engineer Douglas Weiss, likens a smart gun to a lock and key.
"A key is something unique you have, I don't," he says.
"You apply the concept to firearms (so) only authorized persons — the person with the key — can use the ... gun."
Although Sandia's project is aimed at saving police
officers' lives, it also could keep children who get hold of guns from accidentally shooting themselves or someone else. Weiss said.
And, he said, perhaps technology could someday discourage criminals from stealing guns by making it too difficult for them to find a way to make the weapons work.
Although the idea for a smart gun has been around for years, Sandia's involvement began 2/1/2 years ago when Department of Energy security officials began taking a fresh look at security ideas, including weapons that could be fired only by certain people.
Word got to the National Institute of Justice, which could see the possible benefits for law enforcement. The institute funds research for the Department of Justice.
About 16 percent of all officers killed in the United States in the line of duty over the last 15 years were shot with their own guns or those of their partners, Weiss said. Those statistics, he said, didn't include officers who were wounded or who might have been shot had they not successfully fought off an attempt to take their weapon.
Sandia began the project a year ago by asking police, from chiefs to officers on the street, what they require in a weapon.
That resulted in a profile of the ideal gun: one that will do everything, Weiss says.
Conroy's Kansas City department was among those surveyed.
THE BERKELEY GUIDES
Board of Class Officers Elections!
Applications are available in the O.A.C. office in the Kansas Union
Due: 5:00 p.m.April 18,1995
All applicants must attend: Informational meeting 5:00 pm. April 18 Alcove A, Kansas Union
For questions: contact Jeff Russell at 841-4235
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