Friday, October 07, 2005

Terrorist help wanted

Business is apparently booming (sorry) at Al Qaeda, as they are now advertising for help. It looks like they're really trying to build up the entertainment and marketing divisions, as the openings are for Web- and TV-production types.

The Web has made entrepreneurs of everyone, but this is nuts.

Terrorists have always succeeded by using a society's tools to conceal themselves - the PIRA moving with freedom around England, Hamas wannabes working at falafel stands in Jerusalem, the Viet Cong infiltrating cities ahead of Tet, etc. Today's "productivity tools" - laptops connected to the Web, pay-as-you-go mobile phones, the emphasis on collaboration and the ability to work remotely, etc - give bad guys an unprecedented ability to move around and blend in.

I'm certainly not advocating that any of these tools be eliminated or more actively governed. It simply strikes me as massively ironic that these wonderful innovations that make my life and the lives of many of us so much simpler, can be turned around and used against us so effectively.

So, no call to action here. Just a random observation.

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