Usability Views Article Details  home | timeline | recent | popular | e-reports | userati | books | about  Terror Goes OnLine (01 Jan 2005) But terrorists are also using the Internet in new and different ways. The Internet is a terrific way for terrorists to get their message out, Weimann says, uncensored and unadulterated by journalists. Traditional media have thresholds that have to be met before they will report something. Images and sources have to be vetted for authenticity and appropriateness. "On the Internet," he says, "terrorists can show what they want. If they want to show a beheading, they can." "What we see," he continued, "is a blending of the high-tech and low-tech. There is nothing more low-tech than a beheading…. But then they post the videos online; they inform the entire world and get immediate psychological impact." Weimann, applying his early training in psychology, sees this impact as the terrorists' single greatest tool. "The damage isn't just to the beheaded person, it's to the population as a whole," he says. "So they don't need to launch cyberattacks right now." Article URL: http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/resource/jan05/0105webs.html Read 83 more articles from IEEE Spectrum sorted by date, popularity, or title. Next Article: Soapbox: Technoholism - A 12-step Recovery Plan     This site is a labour of love built by Chris McEvoy