The US government may have developed the internet, but the people it now labels as extremists are much better at using it to get their message across.
A team at the University of Massachusetts in Lowell used software to analyse the 鈥渟ophistication, content richness and range of interactive features鈥� on 86 websites set up by groups the FBI and other official sources categorise as terrorists. Comparing them to 92 US federal and state government sites, the team found that these groups used more sophisticated multimedia technologies, such as audio and video clips. The groups also made 鈥渕uch more frequent use of interactive features like online forums and chat rooms鈥�, the researchers say (International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, vol 65, p 71).
