Runcible Blog

What's the deal with all these "Al Qaeda" websites I keep hearing about? Are there actually message boards where terrorists can go to chat about their latest plans and have off-topic discussions about Brittany Spears?

It seems to me that if such sites existed the U.S. government (at least) would be able to shut them down very easily. If America wouldn't, then I'm sure Russia would want to shut down whatever supposed Chechen rebel websites there are. I find it hard to believe that anyone in Chechnya has a website, let alone the rebels. The server must be made of rubble. Besides, I did an exhaustive search, and chechenrebels.ru and chechenrebels.com aren't taken. I have my doubts about these apparent terrorist hang-outs.

Some bonehead Americans who must've been huge Fox News fans were able to shut down Al Jazeera's site last year for a few days with a DDOS attack. I can only imagine what the government could do if they felt like knocking a few computers off the internet.

So, what's the story?