Reader's Digest – 20th March 2020
Tech Against Terrorism Reader's Digest 20 March 2020 Our weekly review of articles on terrorist and violent extremist use of the Internet,...
Our weekly review of articles on terrorist and violent extremist use of the Internet, counterterrorism, digital rights, and tech policy.
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– “Pilgrimage to the platform: The repeat audience for ‘Muslim News’”: Moustafa Ayad takes a deep dive into the audience of the Islamic State-affiliated platform Muslim News, looking at users' origins, length of activity on the platform, and usage peaks. Ayad finds that, though visitors were mostly led to the platform via web searches, many users found the website via social media platforms. Ayad concludes by underlining the risks of search engines being weaponised by terrorist and violent extremist groups. (Ayad, GNET, 09.03.2020)
– “Islamic State in Libya: From force to farce?”: Though the Islamic State (IS) lost its Libyan stronghold in 2016, the terrorist group is still present in the country. Analysing the situation on the ground and the current state of IS, this ICSR report assesses the threat posed by the group in Libya. Author Inga Kristina Trauthig argues that IS is presenting itself in a “hyperbolic way,” and is not in fact as strong as some reports on its activity last year appear to say. (Trauthig, ICSR, 10.03.2020)
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– “De-radicalisation approach needs ‘fundamental review’ - Prison Officers’ Association”: The latest attacks in London have stirred debate around the effectiveness of UK’s prison deradicalisation programme, notably the Health Identity Intervention (HII) and the Desistance and Disengagement Programme (DDP) – both of which the London Bridge attacker took part in. As none of the schemes have undergone a formal evaluation process, the Prison Officers’ Association is calling for a fundamental review that would address the potential, new dynamics of sleeper cells that go through the existing deradicalisation process. (BBC News, 10.03.2020)
– “Parliament stands ground on terrorist content”: Last week Politico leaked a document that appears to detail proposed amendments to the EU’s regulation on terrorist content online, which was put forward by the previous Commission and is now in the final stage of negotiations amongst EU institutions. Politico has found that MEPs do not want to force platforms to use “proactive measures” such as automated content filters, contrary to the Commission and Council’s stance. Though Parliament appears willing to lift the obligation on EU countries of appointing an independent authority to implement the legislation. It seems that member states could still be able to make cross border removal orders of service providers. Only minor points have been agreed at this stage, Politico writes. (Politico, 06.03.2020)
– “Guide: how to protect human rights in content governance”: AccessNow has published 26 “human rights- and user-centric” recommendations to serve as a baseline for fairer content governance regulations to reinforce the protection of human rights online. AccessNow stresses the importance of context in this matter, underlining that these recommendations should not be seen as a one size fits all solution. (Access Now, 03.02.2020)
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Tech Against Terrorism Reader's Digest 20 March 2020 Our weekly review of articles on terrorist and violent extremist use of the Internet,...
Our weekly review of articles on terrorist and violent extremist use of the internet, counterterrorism, digital rights, and tech policy. Islamist...
1 min read
Our weekly review of articles on terrorist and violent extremist use of the internet, counterterrorism, digital rights, and tech policy. We...