[UgaBYTES] [KenTel] On Telecentre.org: Cyber Terrorism- How can we safeguard ourselves?

[Mwathi Francis]

Response from discussion

I'm really very sorry, i completely disagree with Jeff Buderer's views.
However....
Im really very sorry Francis, my main intention of having this discussion is
not to justify the Sri Lankan government or our government forces or their
activities. In the introductory, I brought Sri Lanka in to picture, just as
a recent example.
Please note that this is not to justify or safeguard Sri Lankan government
and its activities, But to consider the threat of *"Cyber Terrorism" in
general* and have a discussion on *possible solutions for cyber
crimes*(which we can use specially
*in* *telecentre level*)
Therefore I think the guide on this comment will mislead the main purpose of
this discussion.
Thank you :)))
Seuwandi Yapa<http://telecentrecommunity.ning.com/forum/topic/listForContributor?user=3uvirdwp66jls>

On Wed, Sep 16, 2009 at 7:13 PM, jeff buderer <jeff at onevillagefoundation.org
> wrote:

> Mwathi,
>
> Are you sure about this? It seems like "Orwellian Newspeak" to me.
>
> With reference to the specific case cited to justify the concern about the
> threat of cyberterrorism, how do we know this is not the governments effort
> to cleverly disguise what some allege as its brutal tactics and human rights
> abuses in repressing the rebellion by the Tamils?
>
> I thought I had multiple reports about this being an issue and that the
> issue was being raised by International authorities including human rights
> orgs.
>
> The "damage of the reputation of Sri Lankan government forces" was due I
> thought to its hasty movement into Tamil controlled areas that had scores of
> Tamils and risked many of their lives by using heavy artillery to purge the
> area of the Tamil fighters and its general ruthlessless in the campaign to
> finally root out the Tamil resistence in their last bastion/stronghold.
>
> Regardless I think the definition of Cyberterrorism is much broader than
> this government friendly definition. Possibly the report is biased and it
> gives the appearance of not discussing this issue of terrorism in a balanced
> and fair way. In particular what we have seen after sept 11 2001 is the an
> increase in state conrolled and manufactured propaganda about terrorism.
> That includes taking advantages of the a climate of fear to create a grossly
> overblown fear of terrorism or attack. This in turn has been to justify more
> repressive state activities, huge increases in military and intelligence
> spending and more intrusive practices of monitoring people's activities
> through surveillance techniques. What's more the so called "War on Terror"
> conveniently deflects attention from state sponsored repression and  that
> terrorizing of individual, regional, community and
> minority/ethnic/indigenous group rights by national states through the
> control and distortion of information in the media as well as through more
> coercive and repressive means including torture and other forms of human
> rights abuse..
>
> Jeff Buderer
>
>  What is Cyber Terrorism?
>>
>> Cyber Terrorism is defined as “premeditated, politically motivated
>> attacks against information, computer system, computer programs, and
>> data which result in violation against non combatant targets by sub
>> national groups or clandestine agents.”
>> Eg: recent experience from Sri Lanka. Recently in Sri Lanka, we
>> discuss about certain websites those that carry propaganda against Sri
>> Lanka publishing false reports by terrorist supporters. Channel-4 News
>> in the UK broadcasted an unauthenticated video clip, accusing Sri
>> Lanka Army and the government of war crimes. This particular video
>> clip, which shows a person in military uniform shooting a man and a
>> woman who were bound, was shown on Channel-4 news on 25th August 2009.
>> It was later shown on BBC, CNN and many other news channels as well as
>> web sites and led to the damage of the reputation of Sri Lankan
>> government forces. The reconciliation, rehabilitation and
>> reconstruction process in Sri Lanka after its ethnic war is also
>> negatively affected by this false allegation. It is also important to
>> note that, other than Sri Lanka, powerful countries like U.S.A., India
>> and Pakistan have been already affected by terrorist propaganda using
>> internet.
>>
>> What are the difficulties in preventing cyber terrorism?
>>
>> Internet is an efficient and effective tool of communication to carry
>> worldwide propaganda and terrorist groups can post abusive and false
>> messages hiding the exact location of terrorists groups. Collecting of
>> evidence relating to cyber terrorism may be rather difficult since
>> these sub groups carry attacks from distant servers located in
>> different jurisdictions and due to their interaction with similar
>> groups in the world. Also, ‘Right to information’ and ‘freedom of
>> expression’ guaranteed under most of the Constitutions in the world
>> and States feel that controlling of free flow of information will be a
>> violation of human rights. Therefore, it is not easy to ban some
>> websites without having international support.
>>
>> Finding Solutions for Cyber Terrorism.....
>>
>> Under such circumstances, how can we safeguard ourselves from cyber
>> terrorism?
>> Please share your ideas, views, suggestions and comments.
>>
>> Thank you
>>
>>
>> Follow this discussion by visiting the link below
>>
>> http://www.telecentre.org/forum/topics/cyber-terrorism-how-can-we?page=1&commentId=2086278%3AComment%3A40315&x=1#2086278Comment40315
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
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Francis Mwathi
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