PhD thesis summary

I have just printed my PhD thesis for submission to the University of Cambridge. The title is ‘Militant Islamist radicalisation: does the Internet atomise?’. The following is a summary of the thesis extracted from part of the summary. In a nutshell, I was exploring how ideas traverse the Internet.

“The Internet, the Perpetual Beta, and the State: The Long View of the New Medium”

Studies in Conflict & Terror, the foremost peer-reviewed journal in its field (edited by Bruce Hoffman), has just published my article “The Internet, the Perpetual Beta, and the State: The Long View of the New Medium”. This follows on from an earlier article I published in the journal in 2007, and introduces what I believe is an entirely novel dimension to the field of terrorism research.

Teaser of research on memes and atomization in webforums

Brief teaser of data mining and statistical analysis: The graphs below are from a small part of the dataset provided of harvested forums.

Internet is Fecund but Hazardous (PhD –> the gyst)

The new book, A History of the Internet and the Digital Future, is due in September 010. While I’m waiting for that I’ve been wrapping up my PhD work. And I think I now have answers – at least, almost final answers. Or at least some pre-almost-final answers.

Since 2005 various Governments of EU Member States have been increasingly concerned about the Internet and its role in the radicalisation of young Europeans to adopt violent ideologies associated with al Qaeda. Although we do not appear to have definitive information on the Internet’s importance in this phenomenon, concern at the political level has at times grown so severe that censorship has been loudly mooted[and argued against], and even rolled out in some countries. So, officialdom is concerned. The problem is that there is entirely too little data available on the Internet’s role. Nor is there useful data on how violent radical ideas spread on the Internet. This is the gap into which my PhD fits.

My talk at RUSI on “Terror, The State, The Perpetual Beta, and The Internet: The Long View of the New Medium”

Terror, The State, The Perpetual Beta, and The Internet: The Long View of the New Medium – Johnny Ryan from Johnny Ryan on Vimeo.

Terror, The State, The Perpetual Beta, and The Internet: The Long View of the New Medium – Johnny Ryan from Johnny Ryan on Vimeo.

Speech by Johnny Ryan at the Study Group on Intelligence (SGI) at the Royal United Services Institute on 29 January 2010 on terrorism and State control in the new information environment.

The Internet is changing the balance of power between individual and state, but at the same time the perpetual beta may be degrading the militants’ ability to effectively radicalize new recruits to terrorism.

(Apologies for the bad sound quality – this is a high def video, so full screen is better)

Data mining (help!)

I am examining how certain phrases crop up in vBulletin web forums to see how ideas spread among Internet audiences over time. I’m having problems and suggestions are welcome. (Update: to see how this research worked out, see this post)

Speech at European Commission public private dialogue.

I spoke at the European Commission Public Private Dialogue to fight online illegal activities, Brussels, 27 November 2009. My talk below…

Revision note for University of Cambridge Students on secret world intelligence topic

This is a revision note I have drafted for final year pre exam revision for University of Cambridge undergraduates who were supervised by me on Militant Islamist Radicalization on the Internet.

Good luck, make use of this, and keep in touch!

The challenge now is to apply the Internet-focused information and approach from our sessions to practical questions on intelligence. Radicalization is a part of the topic on which you will be examined and can inform your approach to the Internet and intelligence post 9-11. This note, and more particularly the links included in it (make sure to read the links that are in bold), is intended to help you do this.

A. Challenges
B. Opportunities
i) OSINT & data mining
ii) intelligence reform & sharing
C. Where radicalization fits in
Concluding note

Review in IISS Survival journal

Survival, the journal of IISS in London, has published a review of my Countering militant Islamist radicalisation on the Internet: a user driven strategy to recover the web in a bumper three book review article.

Internet censorship book free to view on Google Books

One of the benefits of having published Countering militant Islamist radicalisation on the Internet: a user driven strategy to recover the web with the Institute of International & European Affairs is that I am free to make the book freely available. It has attracted interest from unforeseen quarters. I recently discovered that it was on a training course for FBI agents. I think it’s now time to make it freely available in its entirety on Google Books – see the entire text at http://books.google.com/books?id=hsUGK-PpEuUC&printsec=frontcover

Swiss Government CT paper: “Internet governance: why openness is security”

I spoke on the issue of Internet governance at the Swiss Government’s counter terrorism seminar on 29 April 2008. Here is the presentation.

My research plan – ‘Online Islamist militant discussion: does the Internet atomise?’

Note: Since I am writing a book on the value of ‘openness’ on the Internet, I have begun to appreciate the worth of making what might otherwise be defendend as intellectual property public. Here follows a stripped down and un footnoted version of my PhD plan.

Irish Independent – coverage of O’Reilly Foundation Scholarship

I was profiled in the Irish Independent in an article about the O’Reilly Scholarship:

“…his first book, ‘Countering Militant Islamist Radicalisation on the Internet’, which was launched last year by the former chair of the UK Joint Intelligence Committee, Dame Pauline Neville-Jones. The book argued against the European Commission’s suggestion of using internet censorship to combat terror, and was heavily cited in the Commission’s official impact report that decided to abandon the idea of an EU-wide internet censorship system.”

I’m not too sure about the reference to “MI5 Spies!!”, but it was nice to publicise the O’Reilly Foundation and the support it has given to Irish researchers. See more below…

The Four P-Words of Militant Islamist Radicalization and Recruitment: Persecution, Precedent, Piety, and Perseverance

Published in: Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, Volume 30, Issue 11 November 2007 , pages 985 – 1011

Abstract: This article suggests that a single interpretative framework can be used to understand Islamist militant rhetoric, and to compare it to supposedly more orthodox campaigns such as Irish Republican militancy, differences of culture, scale, and lethality. Both refer to histories of persecution; cite exemplars of their just cause drawn from historical precedent; maintain utopian ideals and justifications of violence that drawn from culturally relevant versions of piety; and use examples of perseverance against overwhelming odds drawn from their respective histories. This framework of “4Ps” – persecution, precedent, piety, and perseverance – is apparent even on the Internet, where rhetoric is necessarily atomized.

Review of “Countering Islamist Militancy on the Internet”

“Ryan offers a comprehensive policy-based solution to the issue of militant Islamist rhetoric on the internet. … This book demystifies the “intellectual-unknown” of the internet and its use by groups such as al-Qaeda. … The book represents the unique and positive contribution that Irish defence scholars can make at EU and international level”

– The Irish Times.

Review in The Irish Times, Saturday 16 June 2007, Review Section, p. 11. Full text below…

Radicalisation & recruitment on the internet: Policy responses & implications.

UPDATED THIS PROJECT HAS CONCLUDED. Most of the resulting materials have been made openly available. See My 2007 book [buy it on Amazon] or [read it free at Google Books] and my related articles which are more up to date. Also, I have now initiated a new phase in this research, finally returning to Cambridge to continue PhD work on this area – see details of research here.

Islamists on the internet: brotherhood of belief

This title should have read “Islamist militants on the Internet”.

Published in Magill, May 2005.

In Britain the speed with which the Muslim diaspora embraced the internet was demonstrated by the British Muslim Parliament’s order to all mosques and Muslim schools to install web access as early as 1996. With so many young Muslims in Europe and America using the web to maintain contact with family and friends, it has become a key arena for Islamist propagandists. The internet gives security services and curious browsers the opportunity to explore the extremes of political Islam.