A suggested defense which could be deployed against internet jihad.
What will be proposed here is counter to open internet standards, but it would be otherwise harmless and pales in comparison to truck bombs.
First, understand that every website is usually reached by typing the domain name in the address bar (such as http://www.google.com). The preceeding website address is a request for that site sent to a Domain Name Server. The DNS server translates the request to the IP address for Google (http://74.125.134.139/). The address in parenthesis copied into your address bar will also take you to the Google home page.
Next, note that a file in Windows computers has a line of text as follows:
127.0.0.1 localhost.
The preceeding ip address refers to your own computer (localhost). There are normally no other active entries in this file, but it is frequently edited by viruses to include antivirus providers (eg. 127.0.0.1 mcafee.com) so you can’t update your antivirus or download one from their site. In this example, an attempt to access Mcafee (http://www.mcafee.com) through your browser would give an error page because your computer (localhost) doesn’t serve the Mcafee website.
Sites known to facilitate internet jihad could be edited into the previously mentioned file (like 127.0.0.1 jihad.org) by means of a virus to do only this. Perhaps Microsoft could even be persuaded to issue periodic updates to this file including the names of the jihadist domains.
How might this be harmless yet serve to thwart international terrorism? Whether this file were updated by Microsoft or in stealth by a government generated virus, there could be only 2 results.
- Innocent access of all other sites would be unimpeded.
- Aspiring jihadis, on the other hand, may find something else to spend their time on, such as job search or an education rather than trying to join Al Quaeda or learning how to build bombs.
