More on the leaked Qaeda video controversy

An update on the story of that leaked bin Laden video that led to the "Al Qaeda intranet shutdown". An increasingly weird tale, blending terrorism, national security, and show biz: release dates, sneak previews, unauthorized downloads. All of it raises troubling questions about the mostly invisible world of competing private intelligence services. Snip from Washington Post story:

Frances Fragos Townsend, the White House homeland security adviser, expressed concern about the leak in a news conference, saying the government needs the cooperation of private individuals and companies in stopping terrorist groups.

SITE is one of several small, commercial intelligence firms that specialize in intercepting al-Qaeda's internet communications, often by clandestine means. SITE founder Rita Katz told The Post that her company covertly obtained an early copy of a bin Laden video message in early September, then shared the video with senior administration officials on Sept. 7 on the condition that it not be distributed or made public before its official release.

Soon afterward, the video was downloaded by dozens of computers registered to government agencies. Within hours, SITE's copy of the video was leaked to television news networks and broadcast worldwide.

SITE provides copies of videos and other al-Qaeda material to subscribers, which include intelligence agencies, private companies and news organizations. SITE has acknowledged alerting clients that it had obtained the bin Laden video and would release it when safe to do so. During this period, SITE also negotiated with at least two television networks that were interested in obtaining the video once cleared for release, but it reached no deal before the video was leaked.

Link, and related item, and another. (via Ned Sublette)

Previously: Al-Qaeda "Intranet" goes dark after US leak

[#1 posted by Brooklyn Twang , October 10, 2007 10:17 AM]

If only they had DRM on that tape . . .

[#2 posted by Michael , October 10, 2007 10:31 AM]

If only they had leaked it to somebody who gave a shit about fighting terrorism -- instead, they were foolish enough to give it to senior administration officials.

[#3 posted by Ben , October 10, 2007 10:46 AM]

Well, the release poster wasn't finished yet, and the Happy Meal deal with McDonalds fell through because of how this was handled.

Tsk, tsk.

Al Jazeera never had these problems.

[#4 posted by Teresa Nielsen Hayden / Moderator , October 10, 2007 11:30 AM]

Releasing it like this makes it much harder to question the authenticity of the videotape.

[#5 posted by Kaiser , October 10, 2007 11:36 AM]

When did they drop the "Al" from their name? Now they're just Qeada? (Base in english) These guys can't even get their branding right and I'm suppose to be afraid of them?

[#6 posted by Teresa Nielsen Hayden / Moderator , October 10, 2007 11:58 AM]

It's like dropping "The" from a title.

Qaeda also translates as "Foundation." Makes me wonder whether anyone in the original group was an Asimov fan.