California Sen. Dianne FeinsteinBy Kyla Campbell - Cox Washington, Dorey Scheimer - Cox Washington and Patrick Terpstra - Cox Washington
For years, authorities have been helpless in taking down websites teaching wannabe terrorists how to execute destruction and for two decades California Sen. Dianne Feinstein has been looking at ways to shut the sites down.
Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, says this type of speech doesn't warrant the protection of freedom of speech promised in the Constitution.
Feinstein's renewed push to remove the influence of online terrorist training came in the wake of the arrests of two women in New York who are accused of plotting a terrorist attack. They allegedly took to the web to learn to build bombs from others with similar goals.
"I am particularly struck that the alleged bombers made use of online bomb-making guides like the Anarchist Cookbook and Inspire Magazine,” said Feinstein in a statement. “These documents are not, in my view, protected by the First Amendment and should be removed from the Internet.”
Critics say censoring the websites, despite the content, takes big brother too far. A Feinstein aide says she acknowledges criticism that it is too difficult to completely remove something from the Internet.
