The featured website he dismantled supposedly belonged to Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian terrorist group. According to the article " The group is the latest target of Internet Haganah, which, according to Weisburd, has helped shut down 65 terrorism-related Web sites in the U.S. and overseas by contacting government officials and firms like Hostway. " Hostway, a large internet provider almost immediately shut the website down.
The problem with this in the age after 9/11 is that the US government was very active hunting terrorists at home and if the claim was true within that time frame the FBI should have jumped on the information. When the journalists contacted the FBI for their take on the site the response was "The site is not illegal in any way [nor does it condone] illegal activity," said FBI spokesman Frank Bochte in Chicago. "We cannot be the Orwellian thought police. If it is mere words and nothing beyond that, there's nothing we can do. "
What was the overwhelming proof of supporting terror in the article? " It talks about the "Zionist" rope over American leaders and lists 45 Jews in top positions of U.S. government. A photo gallery features the burning of the American flag, and one section is called "Know Your Enemy."
Internet Haganah's original banner stated it all. The new terrorist hunter definition included anyone that spoke against Israel, for Palestinians rights, or a two State solution.
By April, 2004 Weisburd claimed he had taken down 420 Jihadist websites by targeting the internet service providers in " Politics: Activists Crusade Against E-Jihad." Note that it isn't in conjunction or assisting any law enforcement investigations.
In 2005 he clarified who and what his experts and expertise was in a Washington Post article . According to the article- Weisburd said he and his supporters are responsible for dismantling at least 650 and as many as 1,000 sites he regards as threatening, especially Islamic radical sites.
"I'm sort of like a freelance investigator," Weisburd said. Like the foes they pursue, online crusaders like Weisburd are adept at using the Internet's unique characteristics -- its anonymity, speed and ability to reach across nation-state boundaries. Some work alone and in secret; others like Weisburd have managed to put together well-organized operations that run almost like companies. Their causes can vary widely, be it stopping spam or holding large corporations accountable for poor products or service. There are groups that investigate murders and those that fight terrorism and other crimes.
The activists often operate at the boundaries of what is legal and illegal. For his part, Weisburd insists that he uses only legal means to go after his targets. A posting on his site explains that in fighting crime he does not think it proper to commit one, but he admits he cannot always control the actions of those who help him."
At this point, Weisburd had a few thousand like minded followers working with him. When you consider that there are thousands of operators like him the damage they can do goes exponential.
In the UK, a partner of Weisburd's Glen Jenvey also shares the same mentor. Jenvey fabricated stories in media about terror plots, falsified and planted evidence, falsified testimony of "terrorist activity" by using online sock puppets, hacking accounts and posting as the account owner, as well as setting up entrapment scams. Is it a wonder law enforcement and intelligence agencies look down on them?
In the same Washington Post article that lionizes him " Weisburd said an analyst from a federal agency recently wrote him a scathing letter calling him a "grave threat to national security" because his work was interfering with its investigations.
Marshall Stone, a spokesman for the FBI, said that while the agency encourages citizens to report alleged wrongdoing, it believes any attempt to stop criminals should be left to the government ... Without due process, evidence could be tainted and become unusable in court cases or, worse, targets could be condemned as guilty when they are really innocent, said Paul Kurtz, executive director of the Cyber Security Industry Alliance, a coalition of tech company chief executives. "When we all become 'law enforcement officers' justice becomes very blurry," he said...
Weisburd quickly listed the discovery in his daily log of offensive and dangerous sites, alerting his supporters. A few days later, Ekhlaas experienced an unusual surge in activity, the hallmark of a hacker attack, forcing the company hosting the site to take it down... In one case, Weisburd identified an Atlanta-based Web provider that appeared to be hosting a site that advocated attacks against the United States and its Western allies. The provider, however, seemed to be ignoring requests to remove it. So some Weisburd supporters figured out which church the owner went to and got his personal cell phone number and began lobbying him non-stop until he took down the site."
Even with expert opinion from an Intelligence agency, the FBI, and the director of the Cyber Security Alliance pointing at the problems "operators" like this were causing law abiding citizens and complicating real intelligence work freelancers like this found an open field to work in.
In a 2007 CNN interview he further clarified his methodology "Aaron Weisburd, founder of Internet Haganah and director of the Society for Internet Research, is a fighter on the frontline in this new type of warfare. Weisburd, who works out of his Carbondale, Illinois home, describes his organization as a "global non-governmental ad-hoc intelligence network" which he's modeled after al Qaeda's network."
Who were and are the dangerous terrorists Aaron Weisburd targets? Should we thank him?
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