Updating terrorism. The changing uses of the internet by terrorists in the West

Abstract

This thesis analyses how the technological development of the internet has changed the use of the internet by terrorists in the West between 2003 and 2009. The role of the internet for terrorism is often, but incorrectly, perceived as a static one without progress. This thesis however emphasises the historical development of the internet by analysing how the internet was used by terrorists in three technological phases of the web. Each Web phase is studied using a detailed qualitative approach in which the online activities of individual members of a terrorist network are examined. The networks selected for this analysis are the Dutch Hofstad Network, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the fluid network of far-right terrorists. The careful choice for each of these networks is based on their active use of the respective technological phase of the internet. The analysisshows that on the one hand, shifts in the type of content and used platforms can be distinguished over the years. Additionally, an increase in the sophistication of online activities of terrorists and the importance of online communities can be seen. On the other hand, the online activities were merely an expansion to the offline activities of terrorists, as they could not replace the physical violence that is essential to terrorism. This online expansion did however further increase the (potential) audience of terrorists and decrease the importance of ideology