Extremist Web Sites Are Using U.S. Hosts

[Barack_America]

Source: Washington Post

On March 25, a Taliban Web site claiming to be the voice of the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" boasted of a deadly new attack on coalition forces in that country. Four soldiers were killed in an ambush, the site claimed, and the "mujahideen took the weapons and ammunition as booty."

Most remarkable about the message was how it was delivered. The words were the Taliban's, but they were flashed around the globe by an American-owned firm located in a leafy corner of downtown Houston.

The Texas company, a Web-hosting outfit called ThePlanet, says it simply rented cyberspace to the group and had no clue about its Taliban connections. For more than a year, the militant group used the site to rally its followers and keep a running tally of suicide bombings, rocket attacks and raids against U.S. and allied troops. The cost of the service: roughly $70 a month, payable by credit card.

The Taliban's account was pulled last week when a blogger noticed the connection and called attention to it. But the odd pairing of violently anti-American extremists and U.S. technology companies continues elsewhere and appears to be growing. Intelligence officials and private experts cite dozens of instances in which Islamist militants sought out U.S. Internet firms -- known for their reliable service and easy terms that allow virtual anonymity -- and used them to incite attacks on Americans.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/08/AR2009040804378.html?hpid=topnews

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Edited because I have something to say about this after all...

This is some crazy shit. We've lived in a nation of warrantless wiretapping for how many years? Only to find out that the idiots in residence at the WH didn't even bother to figure out who was hosting these freaking sites and shut them down?!?

:grr:

[DJ13]

1. Hmmm

President from Texas uses terrorist group to scare US citizens into supporting his fascist policies and that same terrorist group is using a Texas hosting site?

Something smells.

[mopinko]

7. sure do.

i always chuckled to myself when they talked about militant's websites. i mean, come on.

[Veruca Salt]

2. At first I thought this was in reference to the freeper site LOL

but it still fits the bill as well.

[FarLeftRage]

3. This has bfee fingerprints all over it...

Wouldn't be surprised if you found more stuff like this where b*shco is located.

[notadmblnd]

4. Why would they want them shut down?

do you honestly think this just another one of those gross oversights? Maybe I've become to cynical, but their intent is to keep the shit stirred. How can we have a perpetual war if we have no threats from the bogey man?

[Barack_America]

5. Makes you wonder who's been uploading those tapes of Bin Laden...

...and from where, eh?

Oh yeah, I totally get why they wouldn't have shut them down (fear, "intelligence", etc.), but it certainly makes it harder for the likes of Cheney to get up there and claim that it's Obama who has made us less safe.

[SpiralHawk]

8. REPUBLICON 'family values' front groups - check this thread out

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5414245

"Friends, some former Ron Paul supporters are now being courted by "radicals" stressing a new revolution of working class Americans against Obama and his big business supporters.

www.resistnet.org is one of their biggest voices. In truth, our heroic gun totin' woodsmen are actually following Washington DC public relations firm Shirley & Bannister public affairs, a front group for the Bush family and the insurance industry.

-snip

[greyl]

6. Are "they" the same ones behind domestic spying?

If so, they would have a nice piece of propaganda after having discovered this site through the use of domestic spying. They could say, "see, here's an example of why we need to broaden our power and sacrifice civil freedom".

[acmavm]

9. The focus of the bush** admin wasn't really the 'terraists'. It was us. We

were the ones they really needed to keep track of. We are the ones against whom they really needed to use the powers they granted themselves.

I've always thought that we were lucking. While the telecoms and the spooks were listening to OUR phone calls and reading our e-mails, it's a miracle that something like another 911 didn't happen.

[Ian David]

10. The Planet Internet Services, Inc.Houston, TX, United States

The Planet Internet Services, Inc.Houston, TX, United States

The Planet Internet Services Executives
Title Name & Bio Contact
VP Technology William (Will) Charnock
Chairman and CEO Douglas J. Erwin
CFO Kevin M. Klausmeyer

More:
http://www.hoovers.com/the-planet-internet-services/--ID__129917--/free-co-factsheet.xhtml


Checked all three names on www.OpenSecrets.org and got no hits.