Fergie's Tech Blog

At What Cost? West is Taking Fight Against Terrorism Online

Doreen Carvajal writes in The International Herald Tribune:

In the name of counterterrorism, Western countries are moving to erect online security borders with aggressive proposals to block Web sites and to unleash Trojan e-mails containing spyware that would monitor jihadists.

Critics warn that the security measures could lead to censorship and privacy invasion, but governments are pressing for legislation aimed at thwarting attacks and walling off Web sites that espouse illegal activities or are "likely to have the effect of facilitating" crime.

In early November, Franco Frattini, the EU justice commissioner, will introduce a package of anti-terrorism proposals that includes the development of technology to block Internet sites offering bomb-making recipes and to make online recruiting of terrorists a punishable offense.

Countries are already moving individually to acquire tools that would give them the ability to reach beyond national borders. In Germany, where the authorities recently foiled a planned terrorist attack, Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble is seeking powers to spy virtually, using e-mails that could infect recipients' computers with spy software.

posted by Fergie @ 9/30/2007 08:31:00 PM