UK Security Chief Cracks Down on Extremist Muslim Web Sites
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Recent Arrests
The move follows a series of high-profile cases where British Muslims have been jailed for Internet-related terror offenses. Among them is Scots student Mohammed Atif Siddique, sent to prison last October for possessing and distributing terrorist material via the Web.
Internet experts, however, warned that the initiative was unlikely to work because, as work on pedophilia has shown, it is “virtually impossible” to police the Web.
Smith, who is to meet members of the online industry to seek support and ideas, said, “If we are ready and willing to take action to stop the grooming of vulnerable young people on social networking sites, then I believe we should also take action against those who groom vulnerable people for the purposes of violent extremism.”
Acknowledging the difficulties, she stressed that there had been successes and that it was important not to give up.
She added: “We are already working closely with the communications industry to take action against pedophiles and, together, we have improved the way that instances of possible abuse can be reported by Internet users.”
Tough to Prosecute
It is notoriously difficult to prosecute people behind illegal online activity, with sites set up anywhere around the world. Closing Web sites often fails to resolve problems, with banned material frequently popping up elsewhere online.
Professor Max Taylor, forensics psychologist at the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at St Andrews University, specializes in Internet terrorism studies and child protection work.
He said, “The experience in the child protection area is that it is virtually impossible to manage illegal content and control access. You can make it more difficult for people, but you can’t eliminate it.
“The determined person who wants to put up material or access material, if they really try, will. The Internet is very difficult because you have got people scattered around the world [using the Web]. There is no common jurisdiction.”
He added that chatrooms, with transient content, were even harder to control.
Mixed Reaction From Muslim Community
Internet service providers (ISPs) already cooperate with police to shut down sites that are clearly illegal, such as those featuring child pornography.
However, the legality of militant sites is not clear-cut. ISPs claim they are only responsible for illegal content if they are aware of it and say it is not their job to police billions of Web pages.
Muslim groups gave a mixed reaction, with youth organization the Ramadhan Foundation questioning why action was not also being taken against far-right sites.
The Islamic Society of Britain in Glasgow sympathized with that view but said action was necessary to save lives. Naeem Raza, its Glasgow president, also warned that the crackdown was ignoring the real issue of why people turn to terrorism.
