While Microsoft may
ponder about the number of users of Hotmail falling, while Gmail increases, one
happy user is apparently al-Qaeda operations mastermind Khalid Sheik
Mohammed.
It has been revealed that in the days following the September 11
terrorist attacks, alleged intended to use his free Hotmail account to direct a
US-based operative to carry out an attack. A guilty plea agreement filed by
Al Saleh Kahlah al-Marri in a US federal court shows that al-Qaeda used
technology such as pre-paid calling cards, public phones, computer search
engines and simplistic codes to communicate, plan and carry out its
operations.
Al-Marri also surfed the Internet to research cyanide gas, using
software to cover his tracks, according to the document filed Thursday in
federal court in Peoria, Illinois. He marked the locations of dams, waterways
and tunnels in the United States in an almanac.
He sent e-mails to Khalid
Sheik Mohammed's hotmail account,
, addressed to "Muk" and
signed "Abdo". The details of that code were found in an address book in
Pakistan. Apparently the email address is still live although no one answers
it.
Al-Marri tried to use a Yahoo e-mail account to contact Mohammed, but
it failed to go through. So he switched to Hotmail because it was more reliable.
You can't buy advertising like that.