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Islamic State Turns To NFTs To Spread Terror Message (wsj.com) 45

Posted by msmash from the closer-look dept.
A simple digital card praising Islamist militants for an attack on a Taliban position in Afghanistan last month is the first known nonfungible token created and disseminated by a terrorist sympathizer, according to former senior U.S. intelligence officials. From a report: It is a sign that Islamic State and other terror groups may be preparing to use the emerging financial technology to sidestep Western efforts to eradicate their online fundraising and messaging, they said. The NFT, visible on at least one NFT trading website and titled "IS-NEWS #01," bears Islamic State's emblem. It was created by a supporter of the group, likely as an experiment to test a new outreach and funding strategy for ISIS, the former officials said.

Regulators and national-security officials have expressed concern about the potential for terrorists to exploit new financial technologies and markets, including NFTs. "It was only a matter of time," said Yaya Fanusie, a former economic and counterterrorism analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency. An NFT is a unit of data stored on a blockchain -- a database of transactions organized without the need for a central trusted authority. The technology first emerged as a means of tracking, valuing and trading digital assets, but developers say that it has much broader applications, such as digital concert tickets and branded collectibles like digital trading cards.
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Islamic State Turns To NFTs To Spread Terror Message More

Islamic State Turns To NFTs To Spread Terror Message

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  • I'm terrified (Score:5, Funny)

    by Joce640k ( 829181 ) on Monday September 05, 2022 @12:17PM (#62853803) Homepage

    It's working. I'm terrified already.

  • Reminder-When 6+6 = 72 (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 05, 2022 @12:23PM (#62853819)

    You can combine six apostate immolations and any six beheadings to get all 72 special limited-edition virgins--algorithmically guaranteed to be wearing less than a full burkah.

    Please note that any attempt to view one of the randomly generated extra-harem NFTs before blowing yourself up will result in a real-life stoning.

    Uuuggge resale potential! Don't miss out! JihadiMatic: 12FD99023735928559

  • ... potential for terrorists to exploit new financial technologies and markets

    Given the context I guess we're talking about the terrorists who have made the Middle East a fundamentalist hellhole for centuries in the name of religious superstition, and not the terrorists who have made the Middle East a corporatist hellhole in the name of economic superstition.

    I guess it's a good thing that the US isn't also using NFT's to further its oppression in the Middle East - otherwise things might get pretty confusing.

    • Re: Terrorists? (Score:4, Informative)

      by ArmoredDragon ( 3450605 ) on Monday September 05, 2022 @12:41PM (#62853863)

      Actually most of today's problems in the middle east can be traced back to England and France's mutual desire to colonize the whole thing after WWI's collapse of the Ottoman Empire. If you look at a map of the middle east, you might notice how straight and neatly angular most of the borders are. Those are borders drawn out in order for the respective countries to dole them out to the still declining nobility.

      • Actually most of today's problems in the middle east can be traced back to England and France's mutual desire to colonize the whole thing ... dole them out to the still declining nobility.

        Monarchy. Corporatocracy. You say tuh-MAY-toe, I say tuh-MAH-toe...

      • Actually most of today's problems in the middle east can be traced back to England and France's mutual desire to colonize the whole thing after WWI's collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

        There is no way to divide the countries that would prevent people from wanting to restore the Caliphate. The problems in the middle east go back millennia. The solution is for them to stop wanting to kill each other.

        • And that was heavily aggravated when arbitrary borders were drawn that took zero consideration into ethnicities, sects, etc. If Courdestan was given it's own territory rather than making it part of numerous others for example, that would have gone a long ways towards reducing violence against them.

          • Maybe. If Kurdistan had been given their own territory, would that have reduced violence towards them? If so, then why not give them their own country today?

            Kenya also disagrees [youtube.com].

            • No, Kenya does not disagree. Kenya is saying they need to work with what they have now. And unfortunately, that is the situation the Kurds have to deal with. If you reissued that territory elsewhere at the present day, that would create even more problems. I'm not trying to tell you what we should do about it, I'm telling you why we're in this situation to begin with.

              • Dividing countries based on ethnicity, religion, culture, etc has never prevented war in the past. Why would it now?

      • Actually most of today's problems in the middle east can be traced back to England and France's mutual desire to colonize the whole thing after WWI's collapse of the Ottoman Empire

        "Most", as in largest in number? Regardless of significance (relative to, for example, the ever-prominent religious issues which pre-date both England and France)? Also, I'm not sure what exactly you mean by 'colonize'. Britain, for example, may have colonized India a few centuries ago but I'm not sure what colonies of Britain you find in the Middle East, of all places.

  • So ISIL is attacking the Talib/Taliban? Does that mean that the Taliban are the good guys this time around?

    • So ISIL is attacking the Talib/Taliban? Does that mean that the Taliban are the good guys this time around?

      No. There are no heroes in this story.

      I find this story particularly hilarious. The whole point of blockchain is to produce an indelible record, right? Secure from tampering? I believe we call that a blockchain of evidence [kaleido.io] (no relation).

    • Itâ(TM)s superstitious terrorists all the way fownâ¦

    • It's kinda like an inverse Alien vs. Predator: Whoever loses. We win.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jmccue ( 834797 )
      It is almost George Orwell's 1984 is an Instruction manual.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Pimpy ( 143938 )

      The US state department should really have a page that tracks these things so you can figure out who is a freedom fighter and who is a terrorist on any given day. They could tie it to a weather vane to auto-refresh every time the wind changes.

    • So ISIL is attacking the Talib/Taliban? Does that mean that the Taliban are the good guys this time around?

      Probably depends on who can help keep a "conflict" going the longest.

      As usual.

  • So this is what NFTs are good for (Score:4, Funny)

    by Vlad_the_Inhaler ( 32958 ) on Monday September 05, 2022 @12:43PM (#62853873)

    We had all thought NFTs were a complete waste of time and money, but it seems someone has found a use for them. Does this mean the inventors can be prosecuted for enabling terrorists?

    • You don't need NFTs in particular for this though, you can similarly make payments to terror groups using other cryptocurrencies, no NFTs required.

    • Yes we should also ban knives. Probably one of the main terrorists weapon. Cash should also be banned since it is used to buy terrorist things, well, this one is probably no joke, a cashless world is probably on its way (it works in China, a lot of central banks are salivating).
  • This is good news, no?

    • Only in the same way that drive by shootings by one gang will eliminate members of a rival gang.

      Too bad about the normal people who live in the area getting shot up.

      • Only in the same way that drive by shootings by one gang will eliminate members of a rival gang.

        And it's never the gang leaders that get shot, it's the junior members who they've been grooming.

    • No because first they fight then they fuck.

    • Two rivals in the same location? Send a couple cruise missiles over.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by PPH ( 736903 )

        Get rich supplying both sides.

      • Not a good idea. We left the place in a hurry a few months ago. We lost 2,456 soldiers and their families are still dealing with the pain. At least 20,752 wounded soldiers, dealing with their conditions, plus PTSD. Let them sort it out. Send them copies of "A Bug's Life" edited so that the Grasshoppers are referred to as ISIL. Then they will learn that there are more regular people than fundamentalist and they might be able to take on them. An even better idea would be to help with infrastructure, so that q

  • T-Chain short for Terror Chain.... sounds like a bad rapper name.... :p

  • Why is NFT better for them than a bitcoin transfer?
  • Crypto, NFTs, whatever, it's all a way to get around financial law and accountability. Small criminals, organized crime, tax evasion, nation states, it's nearly all illegitimate.

  • to steal terrorists' money.

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