(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — After taking credit for a deadly March 25 attack on coalition forces, a Taliban website claiming to be the voice of the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” was found to be hosted by Texas web host The Planet (www.theplanet.com).
Unbeknownst to the US web host, according to a Washington Post report Wednesday, the militant group used The Planet’s hosting services for more than a year “to rally its followers and keep a running tally of suicide bombings, rocket attacks and raids against US and allied troops.” As one of the world’s largest hosting providers, The Planet was unaware of its Taliban connections until a blogger noticed the connection last week and The Planet pulled the plug on it.
The Post article connected The Planet’s incident with a greater trend of extremist groups using US hosting because of its reliability, ease-of-use, and terms of use that allow for anonymity. At around $70 a month, payable by credit card, Site Intelligence Group co-founder and extremist Muslim communication researcher Rita Katz told the Post that low-cost, high-quality US hosting has resulted in many extremist groups willing to pay US companies to host their anti-US messages.
Using Free Web Town (www.freewebtown.com), run by Atlanta-based Tulix Systems (www.tulix.com), Tora Bora Front (www.toorabora.com), another Taliban Web site, continues to post regularly about attacks on US-led coalition forces and other inflammatory material.
Such incidents fuel the debate on whether US webhosts should shut down these websites or let them continue to operate, giving US intelligence access to clues about the leadership and structure of terrorist groups. This also reminds web hosts of the importance of being aware of the companies with whom they are dealing.
