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Israel, Palestine Wage Web War
An anonymous reader writes "A war has erupted on the Internet between Israel and Palestine, alongside the war being fought on the ground in Gaza. A new report claims that a group called the 'DNS Team' has defaced an Israeli Website, with anti-Israel graphical images — one in a series of instances of 'e-vandalism.' This sort of e-vandalism, says the author, is not only an inconvenience for Webmasters, but many of the images contain malware links and 'redirects or Flash links to Jihadist forums or blogs.' However, while the Jihadist forums are registered in Saudi Arabia, they are hosted by companies like Layered Tech and SoftLayer in Plano, Texas. On the Israeli side, 'A fascinating approach over the last few days is being made by an Israeli Website, "Help Israel Win," which provides a download so your PC can become part of a worldwide pro-Israeli botnet. So far 7,786 have joined, already a fairly powerful global computing force...'"
It could be construed through participation in the botnet, since you are directly aiding in an armed conflict between two foreign powers, that you are in fact becoming an enemy combatant, esp if you look back on the old (now defunct) NSA munitions definitions of software. This happens all the time, but could cause you some difficulties if you need to make an insurance claim on system damage - some insurance companies might consider counter-attacks that damage your files/servers/etc to be acts of war, and outside your policy. Granted this would all have to be tested in court, but particpating in a war as a private citizen is generally discouraged, if not illegal in many cases.
meh
IMO, it's interesting to note the difference between the two. Israel seems to always have its military act together, beginning with the war it fought right after it got its land [back].
On one side, we have what was termed "e-vandalism." On the other side, we have a very planned strategy to do something, although I don't know what yet.
Just an interesting look into the different ... tactics, if you will.
Disclaimer for contextual reading of this comment: I am pro-Israel, anti-terrorism, and I really do think Israel wants peace and Hamas wants no-live-Jew-on-face-of-earth. This is not an anti-Jew post.
The "hacking" part is a distraction from the important part of this story: A massive propaganda war. And the outcome of that propaganda war could be as significant to the outcome of the conflict as the bombs. Even if it just makes either side shy away from targeting civilians, it's still hugely important.
-- The act of censorship is always worse than whatever is being censored. Always.
1) Start monetized blogs.
2) Copypasta some anti-Israel content.
3) Refer your blogs to giyus.org for listing on Megaphone.
4) Enjoy 15,000+ page impressions per day.
"There is nothing nice about Steve Jobs and nothing evil about Bill Gates." - Chuck Peddle
WTF is that?? Are they doing this in other countries? Kinda pissed me off to see another country, 'advertising' their side of the war in another country.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
I'm a Muslim and my lunch break is almost over so I can't really write as long of a post as I wanted.
I agree that this war needs to stop, Palestinians and Israelies need to sit down and freaking figure out how to not kill 600+ people over a weekend.
The solutions presented by both sides so far are ridiculous:
a) Throw them in the sea (Palestinian solution)
b) Exterminate them (Israeli solution)
Both sides are idiots, hard headed and are in serious need for an adult conversation.
As a side note to the GP regarding extremist Muslims (or as I like to call them douche bags), if they read Quran they'll stop this my god is bigger than your god bull, here's a quote:
Al Baqara (002.136)
Say (O Muslims): We believe in Allah and that which is revealed unto us and that which was revealed unto Abraham, and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the tribes, and that which Moses and Jesus received, and that which the prophets received from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and unto Him we have surrendered.
P.S.: It's refreshing to see a post like yours on Slashdot :)
If you can't mod them join them.
Actually, I get quite a bit of my news from outside the US. Al Jazeera does a good deal of reporting in the area and they have a pretty neutral tone. The BBC is reporting pretty much the same as I have claimed and most of the other foreign press that have English sites that I have seen do the same.
Anyways, if you think Palestine is getting their message out, I would argue that they have been for a while. It's probably why your sitting there trashing Israel's version right now. Well, not really trashing but raising the point of suspicion. If you follow the plot so far, Israel backed out of Gaza completely pursuant to a cease fire agreement brokered by the Egyptian government. It ended in December around the 19th or so. In october, Hamas start launching mortars and rockets into Israel at a slow pace and Israel attempted to get the elected Palistinian authority to make it stop pursuant to the agreement. This appeared as if it worked then stopped working then worked then stopped again. For a Christmas present, Hamas launched some 30 rockets into Israel which Israel finally responded to taking out a mortar team, killing one and injuring two others. Hamas stepped up it's attacks and Israel went full blown into what we are seeing now. Hamas has closed a checkpoint along the Egyptian border which was has loads of medical aid. Egypt has offered to take critical patients and offered to set up refugee camps for the innocents at the border. Hamas has stopped the aid from getting in and stopped the injured from getting out. They have even stopped the innocent civilians from moving to the borders by firing on their own civilians who were fleeing to it. A representative from Hamas attempted to portray it as an unjustified response because there is an election coming in Israel in February 2009. Hamas Claimed it was being attacked so the politicians could manipulate the elections. A reporter asked about this bit of news floating around and the interview ended. I can't find the actually link to the report I originally read.