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Spy Fears: Twitter Terrorists, Cellphone Jihadists

Noah Shachtman

Could Twitter become terrorists’ newest killer app? A draft Army intelligence report, making its way through spy circles, thinks the miniature messaging software could be used as an effective tool for coordinating militant attacks.

For years, American analysts have been concerned that militants would take advantage of commercial hardware and software to help plan and carry out their strikes. Everything from online games to remote-controlled toys to social network sites to garage door openers has been fingered as possible tools for mayhem.

This recent presentation–put together on the Army’s 304th Military Intelligence Battalion and found on the Federation of the American Scientists Web site–focuses on some of the newer applications for mobile phones: digital maps, GPS locators, photo swappers, and Twitter mashups of it all.

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