The Next Balkan War Is Fought On Internet

[Ivo Skoric]

This article discovers that people of former Yugoslavia discovered 
Internet to wage their peace, and their wars:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1474576,00.html
At Raccoon, we  are well aware of the way Internet shaped the past 
two decades in the region:
http://balkansnet.org/MF-draft/spipe.htm
http://balkansnet.org/MF-draft/ztn0.htm
http://balkansnet.org/news1.html
http://balkansnet.org/internet.html
ivo

01.02.2005

Virtual Battle Between Serbs and Croats

Digital hostilities have broken out in the Balkans

Hackers in the former Yugoslavia have been going at it. Croats, Serbs
and Albanians are hacking into each others' Web sites and leaving
nationalistic slogans. On online forums, bitter political debates 
have been ignited.

In December, Albanian Internet enthusiasts hacked into the
Kosovo-based site of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Instead of the 
usual pictures of the monastery found there, the words "Kosovo will 
gain its independence" popped up on Web browsers.

In response, Serb hackers attacked the online offering of the 
Albanian capital Tirana and posted a stream of curses on the page. 
Over the past four weeks, some 100 Web sites from Serbia as well as 
about a dozen Albanian ones were illegally altered.

Virtual attacks

The trigger for these virtual attacks between Serbs and Croats in the
second part of December was an incident in which a nationally minded
Serb basketball player was refused entry to Croatia. Croatian Hackers
let their dissatisfaction over the athlete's political stance be
widely known by launching a virtual attack on the homepage of 
Serbia's largest private broadcaster, "Pink." The hackers posted the 
words "Greetings to Greater Serbia" on the site, accompanied by the 
Croatian flag and emblem.

That didn't please Serbian hackers and they in turn gained access to
the official site of the Croatian world ski champion Janica Kostelic,
leaving their own message of "Greetings to Croatia" behind, along 
with photographs of the Serbian national team. In the following two 
weeks, more than 80 Croatian and Serbian Web sites were manipulated, 
with each side posting more and less explicit nationalistic slogans 
on "enemy" sites.

Why and to what end?

The offenders from both countries told media outlets that there
weren't any nationalistic motives behind their actions, but that they
simply wanted to draw attention to their hacking abilities. "It
doesn't matter to me whether I hack into a Serbian, Croatian, 
Albanian or whatever kind of site," one notorious Serbian hacker who 
calls himself "Acid Cookie" said in a radio interview.

Another one, who goes under the code name "DTM," explains that he was
only interested in pointing out the security lapses in online 
networks in the Balkans. He said it "is a lot of fun when you can 
publish your own opinion on a site that has a million visitors a 
day."

Crossing borders

But an exchange of opinion between the two peoples of the former
Yugoslavia, who within the last decade and a half were engaged in a
bloody civil war, can take forms besides illegal Web site changes.
Popular sites such as that operated by the Belgrade broadcaster "B92"
or the Croatian portal "index.hr" maintain forums in which current
political affairs are discussed, even beyond national borders.

On the "B92" site, many Albanians have left messages arguing for the
independence of Kosovo or against a division of the province which is
currently under UN administration. On "index.hr" numerous Serbs,
Montenegrins and Bosnians have become engaged participants in
discussions about war crimes and coming to terms with the region's
recent past.

Precursor for real meetings

Such Internet forums, according to Lorenz Graf, a sociologist who
studies the Internet at the University of Cologne, are an important
way in which opinions are formed these days. But they aren't without
risks. "I think that these forums present ways to inform political
opinions," he said. "But when they are too general, they don't have a
great deal of influence, because they aren't specific enough."

Cross-border Internet contacts between young computer users in the
region also often serve as substitutes for real-time travel. Almost 
10 years after the Balkans war, tourists from Serbia are seldom seen 
on the Croatian coast, just as one would be hard to find a Croat in
Belgrade. But the brisk reporting in the region from several 
countries on the Internet means that many there have already formed a 
mental picture of their neighbors.

"I can well imagine that such forums can actually bring people closer
together," said Graf. "Maybe the participants will say to each other
one day, 'you seem nice, why don't we meet up'."

Internet abuse

But it's not only the tolerant and open-minded who are posting in
Internet forums, xenophobes have also found a platform there for 
their own opinions, although their entries are often quickly deleted 
by forum moderators. Still, these kinds of forums are increasingly
becoming targets of hostile attacks because the computer programs 
that run them are easy prey for experts.

Using the Internet to spread hateful political messages is nothing
new. During the NATO bombing campaign against Serbia in spring 1999,
the central computers of the allied forces and the Pentagon were
attacked and anti-war messages were posted on many Web sites.

However, in the Balkans, it is illegal to manipulate Web sites
belonging to other people or organizations. Xenophobic pronouncements
are also against the law, even in Internet forums. But to take 
action, authorities have to first learn the real name and physical 
address of the usually anonymous poster. Most of southeast Europe 
simply does not have the equipment, or the know-how, to do that.

Filip Slavkovic (jam)

---------------------------------------------------------
Ivo Skoric
19 Baxter Street
Rutland VT 05701
802.775.7257
ivo at balkansnet.org
balkansnet.org