Terrorism on the Web is by no means spectacular, especially if you are one of those assembly-line jihadist jerks jonesing for media attention and hoping to garner some of that sought-after shock and awe for your own screwy cause. After all, it’s not as cinematic as blowing up buildings, and the experience will be devoid of rattled, helpless infidels running for their lives all bloodied and dazed. No gore, no good. It’s no secret, however, that terrorists are adept at using information technology to power up their efforts to spread their injurious ideology and recruit many an ignorant Mr. chip-on-his-shoulder as zealously as possible. But information terrorism seems to be, ostensibly, a far more sophisticated concept than that which any religiously-fueled and violently-punctuated movement could ever leverage with skill. Check out this definition of infoterrorism, courtesy of Infoterror.com:
"Infoterrorism is the art of disrupting the media control of your enemies by pointing out paradox… it is transacted mainly through writing."
Democratic undertones, literary innuendo, resilience... Okay... I’m down with that, sure. In fact, It sounds like something I would be happy to sink my teeth into. I wonder if I’ve already dabbled in some form of information terrorism, as I feel I’ve used my writing to deconstruct and claw at societal assumptions and media fortresses myself, from this very blog.
To be honest, I thought information terrorism meant cyber-attacks on corporate IT systems—not so, according to some online thinkers. Which is all the better: At times, running counterculture against established media seems like my cup ‘o tea. But the question remains, am I bold (or crazy) enough to call myself an infoterrorist? Are you?
