Sergei Borisov: Terrorism Battle on the Internet

The horrible events that took place in America had their development on the Internet. CNN distributed the footage that depicted the Palestinians rejoicing the attack on the USA. The authenticity of the footage raised doubts. The whole world saw the Palestinians coming out in the streets on September 11, jumping for joy. The footage with the Palestinians exulting over the American tragedy in the eastern part of Jerusalem was filmed by Reuters cameramen. CNN just distributed it all over the world.

There was a grand scandal after the Internet site Indymedia.org published a message posted by Brazilian student. The mentioned Internet company aspires for objective information and supports anti-globalists over the whole world. The student wrote that the tape, which was shown by CNN, was filmed back in 1991, when the Palestinians rejoiced at Iraq’s incursion in Kuwait. The student referred to his professor, who sent the video tapes with the record made in 1991 to CNN, to the major Brazilian TV company Globo and to the main newspapers of the country. The author of the posting said the CNN’s footage was a crime committed against the public opinion.

The net posting seemed to be reliable. CNN had to survive a storm of phone calls from indignant viewers and journalists. The company had to commence its own investigation. As it turned out, the tape was real; it was filmed by Reuters indeed. The latter by the way had to release a special statement, which denied the accusations.

Reuters stated that the Brazilian student, who started the controversy claimed that he suffered from a hacker's attack and that someone published false information on the Internet. The same thing happened with one of BBC’s supervisors. He reportedly supported the charges against CNN. However, he rejected that information and said someone seized his e-mail.

Misinformation on the Internet was not limited to the angry letter from the Brazilian student. Last week, fake sites that pretended to look like the CNN site appeared. Someone distributed the information in South Africa (by means of e-mail and with reference to CNN) that the acts of terrorism were prepared in the Republic of South Africa.

Sergei Borisov PRAVDA.Ru

AP photo: The early morning sun reflects off the Two and Three World Financial Center buildings at the site where the World Trade Center Towers once stood