U.S. lists four web sites as Foreign Terrorist Organizations [fs]

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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From: "J.D. Abolins" <jda-ir () njcc com>
To: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
Subject: US State Department extends FTO list to include Internet sites
Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2003 10:20:23 -0400

FTO = Foreign Terrorist Organization
More reference notes after the article snippet. -JDA

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20031010-112733-8086r.htm
4 Jewish Web sites deemed 'terrorist'
By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Four Internet Web sites operated by two extremist Jewish groups have been
included by the State Department on its list of "foreign terrorist
organizations" — the first time the list has been extended to include
Internet sites.

    The listing, which went unnoticed when announced Oct. 3 in the
department's annual redesignation of the world's terrorist organizations,
includes the four sites operated by the Kach and its offshoot, the Kahane
Chai, both of which have been designated by the department as terrorist
organizations.

[...]

    The four Web sites are: www.newkach.org, www.Kahane.org, www.Kahane.net
and www.Kahanetzadak.com, the department said in a notice in the Federal
Register. They offer news, commentary and links to other sites of interest to
followers of Meir Kahane.

The impact of the listing was not immediately clear, since all four sites
exist in cyberspace. A designation as a terrorist organization carries travel
and financial sanctions, including the freezing of assets and a prohibition
against the issuance of visas to those identified as members or associates.

[...]

The designation makes it illegal for persons in the United States to donate
money or other material support to the Web sites. The three accessible sites
yesterday included information on where contributions could be sent, what
items could be donated and offered a number items for sale, including
pendants and books.
<rest snipped>

Comments & References:

I not going to get into the issues of how organizations get listed on the FTO.
But I will note this is the first time I have seen .org, .net, .com, etc. on
the list. The offline entities with which they associated have already been
on the State Department's lists. Maybe this addition was simply adding
"aka's", as the notice seems to indicate.

The purchase of books can be an interesting question if the books are only
available from the entity on the FTO. Theoretically, if a journalist or
researcher wanted to study the organization by reviewing its literature,
recordings, etc. -- material not available from other sources --, any
purchase seems to violate US law. (I am not an attorney nor do I deal with
this body of law in depth.) Maybe the practical risk is low but it seems that
it could be someday used as a legal leverage to get a journalist to reveal
sources, notes, or even to not publish a piece deemed to be problematic.

Has anybody researched these issues?

Finding the notice:

The 3 Oct 2003 FTO list is not readily found on the State Department's site.
The full information is found in a notice recently published in the Federal
Register. (Federal Register: October 10, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 197)  Page
58738-58739)
txt:
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/14mar20010800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2003/03-25888.htm
pdf:
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/14mar20010800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2003/pdf/03-25888.pdf

J.D. Abolins
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