One click from sectarianism

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By Tom Marchbanks BBC Panorama Some of the most extreme material can be found on Bebo

The recent shootings in Northern Ireland show, that in some cases, Catholics and Protestant sectarianism has continued, despite the Good Friday Agreement.

Dividing peace walls, unofficial Catholic or Protestant leisure centres, schools and even bus stops are some of the more visible signs of continued segregation and sectarianism.

Less visible are the multitude of web pages hosted by MySpace, Facebook and Bebo where young people openly brag about buying guns, the cost of ammo, setting up "cells" and going on night-time patrols.

It is on Bebo where the level of vitriol is the most extreme and prevalent.

Internet ratings company Nielsen claims that Bebo, with its one million Irish users, was the most popular site in Ireland after Google in 2007.

Sectarianism on the site hit the headlines after threatening posts surfaced following the 2006 murder of Catholic school boy Michael McIlveen in Ballymena.

Three years on, and some pages on Bebo brazenly continue to promote violence.

Guns and bombs

One page dedicated to the Real IRA, removed recently, contained a post which claimed a new "cell" had been formed.

While another, promoting the 32 Sovereign Continuity Movement (32CSM), the political wing of the Real IRA, contains pictures of people holding what appears to be a pipe bomb.

Loyalist sites include pages for outlawed terrorist groups

One user, calling himself a member of the Irish Republican Socialist Movement, even discusses buying a gun and the bargain price of ammunition.

But the pages are not just used to brag about violence or weaponry. Fundraising events are also promoted.

A page on Bebo recruiting for the Republican Sinn Fein - widely thought to be the political wing of the Continuity IRA (CIRA) - advertises a £5 entry for a fundraiser event alongside a press release from CIRA prisoners.

'Revenge is a dish best served cold'

The sites are not just from the republican side, loyalist pages on Bebo are also widespread, including what appears to be the official internet sites for outlawed terrorist groups, such as the Orange Volunteers.

Although these particular sites have few registered friends and show little sign of activity, other loyalist pages on Bebo which have sprung up in the last six months, use similar names, and are much more active.

One popular loyalist site, which writes that revenge is a dish best served cold, and has 80 members, claims to have been set up in the aftermath of the shootings in Antrim and Craigavon.

Another loyalist group, use their page on Bebo to talk about nightly patrols - set up by their leader - which recently expanded in January to take in areas around three Northern Irish towns.

Despite the prevalence of these sites, their presence has not registered with the Northern Irish Home Office.

"No-one has bought it to our attention, as Northern Ireland Office we wouldn't monitor these," says the department.

It is clear that Bebo is making attempts to remove sites but the difficulty is establishing if they have been set up by illegal terrorist groups trying to recruit, or are simply the personal pages of young men, full of empty bravado.

It would be wise to counter radicalisation by commenting and correcting misinformation on the sites Bill Dutton, Oxford Internet Institute

Bill Dutton from the Oxford Internet Institute, believes websites for illegal groups should be closed down but where the sites boarder on legality, the government should try another approach.

"You can also use the internet to counter terrorist views, it would be wise to counter radicalisation by commenting and correcting misinformation on the sites," he says.

Arranged violence

While the majority of people who visit the sites may do nothing more than post a "hello", there is evidence some social networking sites are being used to organise sectarian violence.

In 2007, the North Belfast police appealed to parents following clashes of up to 60 youths who had arranged fights via one particular internet website.

According to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), it is difficult to quantify how many of these arranged bouts of violence have taken place since, but it is thought they may have peaked.

"We do not monitor internet sites on a day-to-day basis however we will take appropriate action when we receive complaints of criminal offences that occur within our jurisdiction," says a PSNI spokesperson.

Most sites for both sides are peaceful but some are used to organise violence

When challenged about the prevalence of these sites a Bebo spokesperson said:

"Unfortunately, anti-social behaviour, both on and offline, is an aspect of the society we live in, but Bebo is committed to providing its community with the safest possible environment.

"Bebo has a strong, self-regulating community supported by strict terms of use which users agree to at the point of registration, under which inappropriate communications are forbidden.

"We will remove materials which we consider to be illegal, defamatory, fraudulent, or which infringe or violate any party's rights. Additionally, Bebo is actively involved in a number of policy groups which address various aspects of online activities and has close working relationships with our member community, law enforcement agencies, and public safety partners."

The internet will always be used to antagonise, and to communicate extreme views but in using Bebo - a site mainly used by teenagers and young adults - the message of sectarianism is getting out to a new generation of Northern Irish, often too young to remember the violence at the height of the Troubles.