Twitter could be used to plan terrorist attacks says US
Intelligence
The US intelligence community is concerned terrorists might use
micro-blogging tool Twitter to coordinate attacks.
According to a
draft Army
intelligence report posted on the web, terrorists could use
mobile and web technologies such as the global positioning system,
digital maps and Twitter to plan and execute terrorist attacks
The report was produced by the 304th Military Intelligence
Battalion and was
posted
to the Federation of American Scientists website.
A chapter titled "Potential for Terrorist Use of Twitter"
includes general introductory information on Twitter and details on
how it works.
It describes how Twitter was used to report details of a recent
earthquake in Los Angeles ahead of established newswires, and by
activists demonstrating at the Republican National Convention.
"Twitter has become a social activism tool for socialists, human
rights groups, communists, vegetarians, anarchists, religious
communities, atheists, political enthusiasts, hacktivists and
others to communicate with each other, and to send messages to
broader audiences," said the report.
The report then says that "Twitter is already used by some
members to post and/or support extremist ideologies and
perspectives.
"Extremist and terrorist use of Twitter could evolve over time
to reflect tactics that are already evolving in use by hacktivists
and activists for surveillance. This could theoretically be
combined with targeting."
The report says Twitter could, theoretically, be used for
planning ambushes or detonating explosives.
Past UK intelligence reports have expressed
concern about voice over IP service Skype, which has been used
by Taliban fighters in Afghanistan to disguise their location when
phoning.
Read more about Twitter:
Collaboration blog: Twitter - cleaning up its act >>
Collaboration blog: Twitter - how far is too far? >>
Computer Weekly's
Twitter feed >>