The WordPress blogging system will allow more features to be added to the blog, but the purpose will be the same. It’ll be an antijihadist/techie blog, as it is now, with emphasis on exposing jihadism and particularly cyberjihadism, and of providing access to the technical news, tools, and techniques that help antijihadist activists to be more effective on the Web.
News, views, and tech tools for the antijihadist activist. Emphasis on Web 2.0, mobile computing, tech tools and tips, confronting e-jihadism, censorship and media spin, with commentary on technology and current events from a conservative viewpoint.
1389 was the year of the Battle of Kosovo. The Serbian army, along with some allies, under the leadership of Prince Saint Lazar, knowing that they were about to die, sacrificed themselves to fight the Turkish invasion to a standstill. Their sacrifice prevented much of Europe from being overrun at that time. In their honor, I have chosen 1389 as the name of this blog, and as my nom de guerre.
For the record:
1389 Blog - Antijihadist Tech is a team blog. There are several blog authors and admins, including both men and women.
1389 is the founder and primary admin. 1389 is a female.
Articles authored by someone other than 1389 will be identified as such. Look for a byline, a category tag identifying the author, or an external link to the source of the article.
For anyone who has problems: try closing your browser, deleting all cookies that end in “@blogger.com”, and then start all over again. That sometimes clears up problems with Blogger.
Welcome to our resource page! Scroll down to learn more!
“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”
- Winston Churchill
We Have Tons of Articles!
Want to see them all? Click on this Stop Blog Censorship! category link to view all of our articles about blog censorship and how to combat it, starting with the newest.
Our articles are filled with practical information about what to do if your blog is being blacklisted via censorware.
We also track instances of hacking, threats, and other efforts to muzzle freedom of expression in the blogosphere.
There’s been a real problem lately with people maliciously making false reports to “censorware” providers, so as to inhibit access to conservative blogs, especially those that discuss counter-terrorism issues. We are also greatly concerned with other censorship issues, including the recent examples of fatwas and other threats made against bloggers for publishing political cartoons.
FAQ
“Why are counterterrorist/antijihadist blogs under attack?”
We are exposing some truly evil people, and they are fighting back. That’s to be expected.
If you doubt that our adversaries mean business, put your ears on and listen to Foehammer’s 9/21/07 podcast.
“What about terrorist propaganda and training sites? I am in favor of censoring those!”
So are we! After all, we are at war, and we are entirely in favor of taking down enemy propaganda and other communications. These include, but are not limited to, terrorist training and recruitment videos. Such communications are not covered by any Constitutional or other legal protections for free speech. We want them taken down entirely, not merely blocked by censorware!
At the same time, we work to uphold (or restore) the U.S. Constitutional protections for speech, press, assembly, and petition, and to uphold (or restore) similar protections in other parts of the world.
Our jihadist enemies have no lack of computer savvy. They are constantly attempting to game the system in various ways, so as to interfere with access to legitimate, constructive political speech in the US, the EU, and elsewhere - particularly counterterrorist and antijihadist speech - often under the guise of “political correctness.” At the same time, they abuse the system - sometimes by hacking, spamming, or vandalizing our websites and blogs - to get their own messages out at our expense!
The bottom line: We must reclaim control over our own avenues of communication.
If you want to help get jihadist videos taken down, please visit the following link:
YouTube is part of Google, and its management has often been criticized for bias. YouTube has taken down videos that criticize anything having to do with Islam or Muslims, and has allowed overt jihadist propaganda, recruitment, and terrorist training videos to remain available.
Panera Bread offers a public WiFi in its stores, but with a major catch. They use SonicWALL censorware to blacklist a vast range of sites, including many of the blogs that provide news that you can’t get anywhere else.
Also be sure to read Jihad Watch Unblocked, including the comments accompanying that article. If necessary, other bloggers who have been wrongfully blacklisted by SonicWALL or other censorware providers should do as Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch did, and consult an attorney!
“I’m having trouble with Google Blogger!”
You aren’t the first! If your blog is locked out or malfunctioning, it may be an attempt at censorship, or it may be just plain old bugs. Our articles can help you figure it out.
“My website has received a ‘takedown request’ - what should I do?”
If someone has asked - or demanded - that you take down an article from your blog or website, your first step should be to verify that the “takedown request” is legitimate and is not a bogus request coming from a troll or prankster. (See Musings of Wired Pig 2.1: Takedown Request (Updated) for an example.)
Be aware of any laws that may apply to the material that you are being asked to remove. If you determine that the takedown request is from a legitimate source, but you believe that the request is unjustified, you would be well advised to consult an attorney.
Our Download page contains downloadable Bibles and links to other sites.
“I’m being sued by an Islamist organization!” …or… “I’m being threatened with arrest and prosecution for blogging!”
Yes, we’re tracking that issue too! We suggest that you start by finding a good attorney. If necessary, set up a legal defense fund for others to contribute to your defense.
Be sure to contact us so that we can post information about the lawsuit on 1389 Blog.
Digg is a world of its own, and not a pleasant one. If your Digg user ID, your blog domain, or your IP address has been banned from Digg, you must be doing something right!
These articles discuss censorship and other problems on Digg, as well as alternatives to Digg.
Our Reference Material page shows how to report suspicious persons and activities, including suspected terrorist activities, both on and off the Web.
“Are there any proxies or other ways to get around censorware?”
We have run across some websites that offer information about proxy services, or provide links to sites that do. (See “Other Sources of Information” below.) However, we have not tested these methods ourselves, so we are not in a position to recommend any specific software, service, or method. Nor can we guarantee that your efforts to get around the censorware will be undetected by the censorware firm or your local system administrators.
Be sure to use an up-to-date source! Censorware firms change and adapt their methods to ward off any attempts to get around the firewall. If you want to try using a proxy, get your information and your software from the most up-to-date sources that you can find.
Keep in mind that these workarounds do not address the real problem of blog censorship. You might be willing and able to set up proxies so that you can continue to read all of your favorite blogs. But if your blog is being blocked by censorware firms over much of the world, how many other people will take the same effort and risk to get to your blog? The fact is that only a tiny fraction of your potential audience will have courage, the know-how, and the opportunity to set up proxies and use them to read your blog in secret somewhere. This will not propagate your blog’s message to the general public, most of whom haven’t seen your blog and don’t know why it might be worth their trouble to read it!
Disclaimer: These sites offer information that may be useful to you. The presence of a link in this list does not necessarily imply that 1389 Blog, its primary administrator, or any of its team members agree with, vouch for, or endorse the site in question.
While this method is perhaps easier to use, the Word of Blog server has been down on occasion.
If you previously acquired Word of Blog badge code that referenced id=4690, please replace it with the new code that references id=4689. This change is being made to fix a duplicate badge bug.
As you may have noticed, 1389 is a frequent Twitter user. While I don’t claim that Twitter is perfect - it does suffer occasional glitches and outages - I find Twitter to be a useful and entertaining social networking tool, and one that has significant political, business, and educational uses as well.
Recently, several people associated with Digg showed up on Twitter to promote Pownce, which they consider to be a competitor to Twitter. I wondered whether the name Pownce was meant to suggest some beclawed feline predator capturing every Twitter bird that happens by.
Of course, I’m the last person who could claim to be unbiased here; I have leveled some heated criticism at Digg, its owners, its admins, its investors, and a good (or not-so-good) proportion of its user base. On the other hand, seeing so many Twitterers headed in that direction, I finally (and somewhat reluctantly) requested a Pownce invitation and signed up.
Well, guess what! I established an account, loaded up an avatar graphic, filled in my profile data, and clicked on a URL that allowed me to start adding friends. But that was it. As of today (7/3/07, 12:05 AM Eastern Time US), whenever I have tried to get into my own Pownce home page, namely http://pownce.com/1389, Pownce’s 404 screen has appeared every time. My guess is that the error has something to do with my having signed up with an all-numeric Pownce user ID. Even though Pownce allowed me to do that, this may have caused some other process within Pownce to break later on. Of course, once you sign up with a user ID, Pownce doesn’t let you change it if you find that it isn’t working properly.
But that’s not all. To my disgust, I found out that the only way I can see the messages I received earlier in the day is to rummage through the huge pileup of e-mail in my inbox. If I shut off the email option, then I can’t see if anybody is trying to send me a message. So I filled out a tech support form and haven’t gotten an answer. If they don’t fix it soon, I’ll have to chuck the whole thing, because all of that inbox e-clutter interferes with everything else I’m trying to do.
Status update as of 7/4/05:
I just want to assure everyone that everything has been fixed, and I’m now on Pownce as 1389. Thanks for fixing everything, and hope to see you all there!
Well, enough about me - you’re probably wondering what the rest of the folks who have used both Pownce and Twitter have to say. Which do they prefer, and why?
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