The Censoring Dilemma
"His work has inspired countless plots and attacks. It's hate speech. It should come down, period. Like child porn, it should be expeditiously removed."
"There are a lot of sources for the teachings of Islam that do not come from a man who became one of the world's most notorious terrorists."
Mark D. Wallace, chief executive, The Counter Extremism Project, Washington
"Some people seem to think there's a one-to-one relationship between watching these videos and carrying out terrorist attacks, but people watch these videos for all kinds of entirely legitimate reasons. {Censoring them] would certainly make it more difficult for ordinary citizens to learn the motivations, grievances and worldview of those who call for violence against Americans."
Jameel Jaffer, American Civil Liberties Union
"[YouTube has] clear policies prohibiting terrorist recruitment and content intending to incite violence. [But it permits] videos posted with a clear news or documentary purpose."
YouTube statement
"The half-life of Awlaki's message is amazing. It really is like plutonium. It's toxic, and it doesn't go away."
Patrick M. Skinner, former C.I.A. counterterrorism officer
"It's not a technical problem. It's a policy issue. I think the speech and privacy issues are tricky."
"But to say there's nothing we can do about it is cowardice."
Hany Farid, professor of computer science, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire
Anwar al-Awlaki was the first American citizen who was deliberately targeted in a strike carried out under the direction of the CIA by Joint Special Operations Command in 2011 in Yemen when two Predator drones hit the vehicle he was in, killing the occupants. The cleric was completely committed to being the influential voice of al-Qaeda, inspiring recruits to kill Americans by planning and directing attacks against civilians.
Since his death his recorded sermons have served to inspire countless jihadists.
He inspired the shootings by Nidal Hassan that took place at Fort Hood, Texas, the brothers Tsarnaev Boston bombing atrocity, and the most recent slaughter in San Bernardino, California, along with numberless other aspiring jihadists. Some of whom have simply continued his style of propaganda and efforts to enlist recruits to jihad, along with those who have carried out their own attacks in deference to the urgings of al-Awlaki.
His videos, along with bomb-making instructions, are readily available on the Internet, and have never lost influence among jihadi aspirants. A growing movement, as a result, aimed at influencing Internet companies to remove his work is gaining momentum. The impact of his influence is undeniable, and even while free speech and the freedom to access information and data is celebrated, it's difficult to find anything positive in the ready availability of bomb-making instructions and the Islamist-inspired urging to commit murder.
The issues of technology, national security, freedom of speech and religious messaging are all involved. The weight of the cons against the pros dictate that the formidable power of the man's Islamist influence be removed from easy access. The fact that as a cleric he recorded lectures on the life of the Prophet Mohammad complicate matters further; on the one hand he could be conceived of as an expert on Islam; on the other a proponent of the fierce ideology of violent jihad.
Muslim activists along with civil libertarians who have never seen an issue surface that they couldn't defend with breathless asperity in the name of liberty, balk at the very thought of eliminating access to this man's hateful legacy. A civil rights group located in Washington, Muslim Advocates, rejects a ban on the cleric's recordings, claiming that YouTube should remove any violence-inciting material irrespective of its source "and not make an exception based on people's faith".
Twitter suspends accounts of Islamic State supporters using their site for messaging. The largest collection of Awlaki's inflammatory material, though found in many places on the web, is distinguished on YouTube which has been unmoved by calls to remove the cleric's most provocative material. A search for "Anwar al-Awlaki" will produce over 61,000 results, many representing explicit endorsements of violent attacks on Americans.
Alexander Meleangrou-Hitchens, a lecturer at King's College London, has pointed out that Awlaki's lectures on "The Hereafter" which purports to examine the Islamic concept of paradise, actually helps jihadists to "rationalize and come to terms with their own deaths, thus helping them prepare for attacks".
Labels: Internet, Islamism, Propaganda
posted by Pieface @ Sunday, January 10, 2016
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