"All of the media articles on the Alrawi app showed screenshots of a different app entirely, one that is a glorified RSS reader with a totally different name."<p>There was an article on the front page of HN recently about this "glorified RSS reader." This article actually described that functionality, and made no mention of any encrypted messaging. Despite that, it was submitted with a title that indicated it was an encrypted messaging app, and the comments were full of discussions about encrypted messaging and the eternal conflict between privacy and anti-terrorism efforts.<p>It really confused me. I guess this is an app that people really <i>want</i> to exist.
Somewhat related: there's an online German opsec magazine aimed at mujahideen, named Kybernetiq.[0] It's pretty slick. The first issue[1] included a GPG tutorial and a review of a "jihadi" messaging app (they don't recommend it).<p>[0] <a href="https://twitter.com/kybernetiq" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/kybernetiq</a><p>[1] <a href="https://archive.org/details/kybernetiq_magazin" rel="nofollow">https://archive.org/details/kybernetiq_magazin</a>
Reminds me of the Nayirah testimony, in that stories have high risk to be manufactured if it plays perfectly into the narrative of an political interest.
Yeah, it's pretty believable that it's a myth, but do you ever get the feeling that people in the tech community want it to be a myth a little bit too much? Just like people on the other side really want it to exist.<p>The idea of it certainly poses an interesting dilemma, especially if you are invested in being for strong encryption and against Government surveillance. How well will those idea hold up if it ever turns out that evil terrorist armies really are using strong encryption to carry out mass murder and acts of War in the West?
Obviously they are using encryption, but it is a very ad-hoc movement so computer literacy will be very uneven. I think suggesting no one in ISIS uses encryption can only be wishful politicized thinking... being in ISIS doesn't automatically mean you are cow level stupid and you shouldn't think so.
BY the way, they don't talk about it now, but originally in 2001 the media reported that "al queda" was a code name used by the CIA for their database of mujahideen fighters. Somehow the narrative later morphed into "al queda" being a massive global conspiracy of "cells" with a leader, and all that, a big old boogeyman. But they forgot that for this to be the case, we have to believe that Osama Bin Laden -- Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible One style-- stealth his way into CIA headquarters and found this top secret code name they used for the Mujahideen fighters they were funding in the 1980s, and decided to name his secret, global, hidden, evil genius organization after it.<p>It's kinda nonsensical. But fortunately for the government, most people don't pay much attention.<p>At any rate, the propaganda/misinformation efforts are very real and ongoing.
Doesn't make sense to make such an obvious target of an app; you'd use stuff with a crowd of other uses and users to hide in. This could be a decent honey pot.