JIHAD AND SECOND LIFE (Updated)

Dr. Rohan Gunaratna is among the world's leading terrorism experts.  His book Inside Al Qaeda is generally acclaimed as among the very best analyzes of the violent Salafist group, in part because it was in development years before 9/11, and is informed by Gunaratna's in-person interviews with actual Qaeda associates.  Peter Bergen, himself an Al Qaeda expert (you often see him speaking on the subject on CNN) has praised Dr. Gunaratna's book as "excellent... a comprehensive examination of the terrorist network."  In other words, when Gunaratna says something about Osama bin Laden's organization and the informal, global coalition of Islamist extremists he's inspired, it's something to take in deadly earnest.

Which is why it was so strange to read a recent article in The Australian in which Rohan Gunaratna is quoted as saying, about Al Qaeda:

They are rehearsing their operations in Second Life because they don't have the opportunity to rehearse in the real world... And unless governments improve their technical capabilities on a par with the terrorists' access to globalization tools like the internet and Second Life, they will not be able to monitor what is happening in the terrorist world.

Unfortunately, the article itself is laughably overwrought, for its author, Natalie O'Brien, conflates real terrorism with the mostly harmless griefing of the Second Life Liberation Army, a now-defunct roleplaying group.  But there amid all O'Brien's uninformed hyperbole were the words of Dr. Gunaratna.  (A somewhat more measured article in the UK Times expanded on the Sri Lankan terror expert's assertions even further.)  And that gave me pause. Was he quoted accurately, and did he really mean what he said?  And how exactly had he determined that Al Qaeda was in Second Life? 

I looked up Rohan Gunaratna, and asked him.

"Dear James,"  Dr. Rohan Gunaratna e-mailed me back a few days later, "Instead of saying Al Qaeda, it may be more accurate to say Jihadists." 

As to how he knows they are in Second Life, he tells me, "We are monitoring them."

By "monitoring" them, I pressed, are Gunaratna and his associates tracking them in Second Life itself?

To that, he also answered Yes.  (Dr. Gunaratna is currently head of the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore-- coincidentally, also the site of State of Play IV, the annual metaverse conference which will have several Lindens in attendance.)

This development should actually not come as a surprise, for many terrorism experts have argued that Al Qaeda, bereft of a stable geographic base of operations in Afghanistan, is now best understood as a virtual, Internet-based network. Already this has transformed the web into a subterranean battleground of shifting identities and false fronts, terrorists and authorities fighting for territory and control of the battle space that is the Net. It's inevitable, then, that terrorists and their supporters would be attracted to worlds like Second Life as their next haven and safe harbor.  (I mentioned this possibility at the end of an early 2006 essay.) Then again, neither is it a cause for particular panic, for they're believed to have infiltrated many popular Internet communities, including social networks like Orkut and MySpace, for related reasons.  (And in the UK Times interview, Gunaratna speculated that SL-based Jihadists are not necessarily planning real life attacks, using Second Life's building tools to recreate target areas, but perhaps just creating anonymous groups of like-minded extremists.)

Response, a disaster simulation sponsored by US Homeland Security

So the conflict against Islamist extremism has opened up another front: the metaverse. But if there are Jihadists in Second Life, there are also counter-terrorists. US Homeland Security, of course, set up a temporary SL project back in 2005; it's likely that intelligence agencies and investigators like Dr. Gunaratna are already in-world, even without the Lindens' knowledge. 

“There is I believe no legal impediment to an FBI special agent enrolling in Second Life under an avatar that would not identify him as an agent,” Judge Richard Posner opined, when I put the Al Qaeda scenario to him during his Honor's appearance in SL. (As it happens, he was there to promote his book on law and terrorism in the post-9/11 era.)  “The general rule is that if a building or other area is open to the public, anyone can enter if he adheres to the rules of the owner, but the owner cannot bar an investigator who does not resort to coercion or other distinctive police methods of investigation.”

Judge Posner went on to offer a tacit acknowledgement that the conflict could make its way into the metaverse. “The Internet offers opportunities both for terrorists and counterterrorism,” he observed. So it's an arms race between the opposing forces, both seeking maximum advantage from the digital revolution.”

I asked Dr. Gunaratna what Second Life Residents should do, if they suspect another user is a real life Jihadist.

"Inform government," was his terse reply, "so that he can be monitored."

Update, 11:45pm:  Drown Pharoah, a Muslim Sufi Resident who often attends prayer services at Second Life's Mosque in Chebi, offers these stirring words in comments:  "I think I can speak for ALL Muslims in SL in stating that, should we become aware of terrorists operating in SL, we would contact the Lindens immediately."

Also, Rohan Gunaratna writes in with a correction about a jihadist mentioned in the UK Times article:  "[I] did not say to the UK paper that 'Irhabi 007' was operating in Second Life. I think the paper made a genuine error."

Comments

[Erbo Evans]

I asked Dr. Gunaratna what Second Life Residents should do, if they suspect another user is a real life Jihadist.

"Inform government," was his terse reply, "so that he can be monitored."

You mean I can't orbit him? Repeatedly? :-)

[Drown Pharoah]

Some questions regarding Dr. Rohan Gunaratna's credentials:

http://www.aseannewsnetwork.com/2005/05/dr-rohan-gunaratna-institute-of.html

I'm Muslim. A few months ago, some idiot visited my parcel who had founded a group supporting Osama Bin Laden. I immediately lodged a complaint with the Lindens and I gather the group was subsequently banned.

I think I can speak for ALL Muslims in SL in stating that, should we become aware of terrorists operating in SL, we would contact the Lindens immediately.

[Tyffany Flintoff]

I'm with you Erbo. Repeat orbit.

I doubt they'd be smart enough to sit.

[csven]

Sorry. Sounds to me like Gunaratna is an opportunist hopping on the bandwagon to ride whatever is left of the current SL media wave. The only thing he might say that would get my attention is that the MILF is hooking up with a bunch of griefers... but I figure the SLH will carry that story.

Are malcontents in SL? Of course.

Are we *all* being monitored? Probably.

Are a few extremists logging into SL a concern to me? No. If anything, I'd rather they spent time in SL than building training mods... hosted on private servers... using more capable applications like Half-Life 2. An Al Qaeda version of "America's Army" is a greater threat imo than SL at this stage development.

[Laetizia Coronet]

Al-Qa'ida-affiliate networks do indeed operate largely online, and they will look for every nook and cranny to pass information. Another critically acclaimed book, The Secret History of al-Qa'ida by Abdel Bari Atwan, which I had the pleasure to translate into Dutch, also makes this abundantly clear.
Whether or not that should worry us depends on the way we look at SL. Those who believe it to be a whole new world might lose sleep over it. Those who see it as just another communication channel (as I would bet the salafi-jihadi types do) need not worry more than they worry about the use of the phone network, the internet or e-mail by both decent citizens and potential terrorists alike.

[Soen Eber]

There have been 4 or 5 articles along this vein, all from Murdoch's NewsCorp newspapers. In the Australian piece, at least one of the sources was quoted without permission (this was discussed in metasecurity.net) and subsequent articles have been roundly riffed in places like information week and slash dot. It is my personal belief that Murdoch's newspapers are campaigning against SL, for reasons yet to be determined - perhaps he has an interest in virtual worlds (possible given his recent acquisition of facebook). Certainly SL has shown itself to not be very corporate friendly, and user-driven content competes against corporate content.

[Jose]

Ooooooooooookay, so from now on we will spend valuable FBI resources tracking "terrorists" in World of Warcraft. Al-Qaeda are probably close allies with the Orcs.

[rikomatic]

I can't imagine why SL would be a useful training or communications medium for a terrorist organization. The physic engine is not robust enough for simulations. Communications are logged in SL servers, avatars are pretty easily tracked, and sims are hard to secure from prying eyes.

No, they are much more likely to be using custom software, darknets, usenet and other more anonymizing communications media. Or Club Penguin.

[Economic Mip]

Normally I would be with the "no real terrorists in Second Life" bandwagon, but um there was the Anonymous threat to blow up 7 sports stadiums (and they are just as big in Second Life as elsewhere). Oh and the SLLA of course, despite their head being in charge of Concentric Security.

[Alberik Rotaru]

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, of ABC Island fame, ran an equally overwrought piece (audio only) this morning.