back to article Secret European project to battle online jihad

The UK is collaborating with the German, Dutch and Czech governments on a secret research project on how to effectively block the distribution of Islamic extremist material online. Officials across Europe are concerned that most jihadi websites are hosted outside the EU and so cannot be taken down from the internet. It's …

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  1. jai
    Paris Hilton

    but...

    it's not _that_ secret then is it, if you've just told us about it

    or are you confident that fundamentalist extremists do not read El Reg because their offended by the lack of IT angle in the playmobile articles and the obsession with Paris Hilton on the comments pages?

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Shut the f***k up

    Tell me, if I take away your voice will that make you MORE or LESS extreme? Imagine I took away the vote in the UK*, would you be protesting MORE or LESS? Would their protests be MORE or LESS extreme?

    So pray tell do you imagine censoring an opposing view point makes the world BETTER or WORSE? Does it CREATE EXTREMISM or REDUCE extremism?

    Ex President Bush stated the very same sentiment in 2006, was he a WISE President or a DUMB idiot? Was his view on this CORRECT or MISGUIDED?

    German Interior minister = Wolfgang Schaeuble Uk Home Secretary = Jacqui Smith. You'll see that this doesn't represent a consensus of the EU, and not even the consensus of those 4 Governments. It's the usual few nut-jobs doing their usual nut-jobbery. As ever they are outside the consensus opinion of the civilised world.

    You want Muslims to be spouting their extreme views and you want to enter into discussion with them over those views, because that represents the calm ADULT approach to life and that discussion is what moderates those views and brings people to the mainstream consensus.

    Telling people to SHUT THE F**K UP is what children do.

    If Jacqui Smith's viewpoints represent the consensus then why does she avoid votes in Parliament? Why does Brown avoid leadership votes in the Labour Party?

    It's because they represent a dysfunction minority that have yet to be ejected from power.

    * Yes I know, but you'll get to vote soon enough or the Labour party will lynch him.

  3. Codge
    Black Helicopters

    What's the point?

    Onion router, Bit-Torrent and a private tracker!

    Now try stopping them.

    Pointless...

    What's that noise? Oh fsck! I'll come quietly...

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Which is fine until...

    ...they decide they want to use their new powers to take something else off the web.

  5. Michael Fremlins
    Unhappy

    But is the government to be trusted?

    Let's think for two seconds. RIPA, which was introduced for anti-terror purposes (don't try and deny it, read Hansard), but later extended, is being misused by councils to catch parents trying to get their children into good schools, and against those who drop litter.

    How do we know that the government is not now misusing the Terrorism Act 2006? Why should we trust the government? Who are the faceless and nameless bureaucrats who will be deciding that certain web sites are not for our eyes? What will be the criteria for blocking such sites? This is quite a different situation from that with the IWF, which has published guidelines on its "block" list. The words "minister" or "secretary of state" on a document does not any credibility these days.

    I can easily see this being misused by the government to block any site they disagree with, or that offers an alternative view or opinion on things they consider important. Would Al Jazeera be blocked? This is not a farfetched notion.

    The very suggestion that is a (poorly kept) secret plan does not bode well.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So simple

    Just make it international law that all IT hardware has to be made using by-products of the pork industry, especially fibre and servers. Also mandate that said products must have embossed provocative images of naked women on them, preferably shown beating their male spouses - hang on maybe female spouses would work better. Then widely advertise the fact and wait for the official jihadi Imams to declare all IT kit haram. It's going to be hard to sustain a global jihad using pen, paper and snail mail.

    It has the added attraction of being less idiotic than most of the suggestions they do actually consider.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Black Helicopters

    @AC 12:02 GMT

    "Imagine I took away the vote in the UK*, would you be protesting MORE or LESS?"

    * Yes I know, but you'll get to vote soon enough or the Labour party will lynch him.

    ----------

    In times of national emergency general elections can be postponed

    Watch this space o.O

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It won't work.

    DNS blocking is easily circumventable, just look at tpb vs denmark.

    Ip filtering is nigh-on impossible due to the information being constantly out of date.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    terrorism creep

    When I was a lad, terrorism meant blowing people up. Killing them. Like the IRA did, and the ANC, and the SOE.

    Now, possession of "The anarchist's cookbook", having a copy of the video of the 9/11 attacks on your System directory or writing ropey Jihadi poetry while working at The Sock Shop count as terrorism.

    Time to insitute the "Campaign for real terrorism" I think.

    Oops, the above clearly glorifies terrorism, so 15 years in a detention centre without trial for me :-(

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    We are all dooooooomed!

    I was on a domonstatting in London the other week, against Westminster Councils bike parking Tax. They rarther stupidly silenced the fourm setion of the notobikeparkingfees.com site.

    This just made me and others more determined to protest and I don't even have a religous conviction about the tax : )

    Anouther forum site run by people who are simbefetic to the first was up and running within a day !

    The best this can do is enourouge people.

    The next qustion is what will they ban next, if the system works ?

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Preserve Choice

    "In March, a UK study of internet radicalisation concluded efforts to restrict users' access to extremist material would be "crude, costly and counter-productive"."

    And if filtering becomes commonplace, how would such studies be conducted in the future? How could any independent authority of responsible adult determine whether filtering was overly zealous or not?

    I don't mind filtering solutions where the subscriber retains choice of what and how much to filter (including schools, universities, libraries, internet cafes, kiosks, etc.), but nationally-mandated filtering is, IMO, just plain wrong.

  12. This post has been deleted by its author

  13. Master Baker
    Thumb Up

    Jacqui should get to know Islam

    I for one think that Jacqui should get to know Islam better before making assumptions about it.

    I would vote 100% for her to wear a Burka from now on for the following reasons :

    1. It would help her to learn more about what she is trying to combat

    2. She's a bit of a moose

    3. It may muffle her facial piss-flaps from leaking verbal waste

    Also muslim porn is rubbish. You don't see anything.

  14. Liam
    Flame

    ffs....

    Before long the UK gov will have more to fear from the pissed off public than any Jihadist. I mean the IRA were 10x more efficient, they aren't stupid enough to want to blow themselves up all the time! Terrorist masterminds my hairy ass.

    The constant erosion of civil liberties, ignoring all reports they have commissioned etc. Argghhhh... V for Vendetta time yet? Is it 1984???

    @"Also mandate that said products must have embossed provocative images of naked women on them, preferably shown beating their male spouses - hang on maybe female spouses would work better" - sod it, can't we have this one anyway :)

  15. John Imrie
    Unhappy

    History

    "Exploring the Islamist Extremist Web of Europe - Analysis and Preventive Approaches", which is led by the German interior ministry.

    Is it only me, or are others worried about the Germans attempting to scape goat a religion.

  16. Graham Marsden
    Thumb Down

    Function creep...?

    This is just another attempt to bring in a law like that banning "glorifying terrorism" etc.

    But how long before that ban on "Islamic extremist material" is extended to other "extremist material"? How long before the definition of "extremist material" is expanded to other content deemed "unacceptable" by the various state? How long before we're told that "you can't see this because we think it's bad for you"?

    This is just another assault on the freedoms that the internet allows us and which are *so* threatening to our Great Leaders that they must be stopped.

  17. General A. Annoying
    Stop

    @ Shut the f**k up

    well said.

    Also, is it just extremist Islamic material their trying to block, or are they going to block extremist Christian material, of which there's plenty if you look for it, too?

  18. Ad Fundum
    Alert

    If we remove ...

    ... the things they write, isn't that censorship?

    I'm reasonably well-acquainted with the Hebrew Bible and in that violence is advocated against a whole bunch of people on reasonably dubious grounds. Even in the New testament the beardy wine-maker tells people to sell their clothes to be a sword. So if we censor Islam extremism on the grounds that it advocates violence, shouldn't we also do that for the Bible?

    (By the way, I am a practising Christian with an Honours degree in Biblical Studies and not some anti-all-religions nutjob. Just trying to make a case for being fair across the board.)

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    re:Shut the f***k up

    Agree!

    I was about to write something - but it has already been done..

    Censorhip in a democratic society? Is totalitarian efforts to control the thoughts of a population not a good enough reason for a democratic society to take to arms? Was not the idea of free speach part of the HUMAN RIGHTS movement? So who is promoting this censorship idea - ignorant morons pretending to be visionaries in modern Europe? These "self-proclaimed-defenders-the-western-world-style-of-life" kind of people should not be allowed to get excited about the enthusiastic promotion of ideas traditionally implemented by leaders such as Hitler and Stalin etc.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    spot on Jai...

    `Secret`... LOL...

    Who fed this story to the Reg? No really, someone didn't really want this published, did they?...

    Read: Let's keep everyone mindful of the ever present threats - lest people should forget our (current) common enemy!

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    @General A. Annoying

    Extremist Christian propaganda always makes me either annoyed or it makes me laugh.

    On the one hand the stuff about hating homosexuals because "the bible says so".

    The bible also says that you shouldn't work on a Saturday or eat shellfish. I don't see the Pope going on about either of those things very often.

    Frankly, I don't believe a single word of any religous doctrine. They all seem to have been created or compiled by a small number of people who were quite obviously trying to push their own insane/inane desires onto everyone else. With that in mind, still trying to do the same a couple of thousand years later isn't just foolish, it's also ignorant.

    God doesn't have much to say about mobile phones or computers (in any religion) but if he did my guess is that he would just ban them outright. The High Priest knows it's so much easier to control the masses when they can't communicate with each other.

    ...wait a minute, I shouldn't be writing this, Jacqui might read it and then she is bound to want to ban internet access for everyone except her pr0n-surfing hubby.

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Not in my name

    I'm not an islamist extremist or any other sort of extremist so far as I am aware, but I don't want any government, especially the present bunch of nu-labour fascists, deciding what websites I should or should not be viewing. Or hosting for that matter. If the world's great and not so great religions want to argue over who has the best imaginary friend then so be it, and if I am unstable enough to be driven to violence by the online rantings of a mad mullah then I am probably beyond help in any case.

  23. Pyrrho Huxley

    We were warned!

    When the government started attempting to censor child-porn, we were told by freedom-of-speech advocates that once we'd accepted the principle of censorship (in relation to child porn), then the authorities would seek to expand censorship into other areas. This is exactly what's happened and what will continue to happen. For example, if they succeed in banning jihadi sites, they will then go on to other sites. My guess is that nationalist sites will be next, to be followed by anti-immigration sites, as well as consensual adult porn.

    We have to draw a line between protecting children and protecting the most valuable and socially progressive of all our freedoms - freedom of speech.

  24. steward
    Black Helicopters

    I can't wait...

    for the UK govt to get into this and ban US revolutionary, er terrorism, songs from the Internet. No Yankee Doodle for you, netheads! George Washington was a UK traitor and terrorist, after all!

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Can't stop the signal...

    Wouldn't it be a lot more efficient to just set up a bunch of anti-jihadist web sites with content that made sure that they were top of the list in Google, Yahoo and other search engines when someone searched for naughty terro**st words?

    As everyone's pointing out, it's not like filtering works anyway - if the young nobs are going looking why not educate them? As Quentin Crisp pointed out, "Never try and keep up with the Jones's, drag them down to your level - it's cheaper"

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    But Shirley...

    ...this is a good idea, now Johnny Foreigner won't be able to come to this fair and pleasant land and learn to be a terrorist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Oh hang on, I think I see a problem.

    Paris, she can filter my packets any day.

  27. Flocke Kroes Silver badge

    Government Policies for Dummies

    Oop's, I just glimpsed a terrorist website. Excuse me while go and plant a bomb.

    Don't laugh too much. I am sure Gordon & Jacqui get their policies from sites like http://www.cranks.r.us/.

  28. Juan Inamillion

    Same shit, different day.

    @Shut the f***k up - Yep.

    @Not in my name - Absolutely.

    And a bit off topic but same principle:

    @We are all dooooooomed! - (not sure about your spelling mate...) It's a shame there's not more bikers prepared to fight the cnuts at Westminster. It would also help if the owners of notobikeparkingfees.com were to move it outside the UK - as others say here it would be really easy.

  29. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Which priceless home office numpty...

    was persuaded to sign off the Logica CMG / M$ purchase order for this one...?

    Everytime i hear of another uber-database i picture a room full of Logica CMG salesmen hi-fiving and raising their pints....

  30. John Smith Gold badge
    Joke

    @Master Baker

    "I for one think that Jacqui should get to know Islam better"

    Absolutely.

    She would learn that however bad the food situation the pig is inviolate.

  31. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    Exploring our Islamist Enemies European Web

    Our unrepresentatives aren't helping themselves by using the word 'Extremist' when naming their projects. For all the practical difference it would make they might as well have titled the project as 'Exploring our Islamist Enemies European Web' because that's really what 'extremist' has come to mean (via a process of meaning-creep).

    If our gummints had the slightest shadow of honesty they'd be having meetings about the "Why do these ungrateful twats hate us - all we did was blow the shit back up their own asses" project, but then they'd look as fucking stupid and hypocritical as they actually are, chanting their ballads of joy, waving the Democracy flag while kicking the shit out of the underdogs.

    "There's no escape.

    The big pricks are out.

    They'll fuck everything in sight.

    Watch your back."

  32. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    It makes no difference anyway...

    Let's hope the Jihadis do keep terrorizing us because NOT drawing our attention to their cause is a far more dangerous weapon.

    If the present crowd of open-borders, nationality-doesn't-exist, our-homes-communities-and-countries-are-all-for-the-taking-by-whoever-outbreeds-us, self-hating Liberal wet politicians remain in power, our country is doomed to become an Islamic state. The fall of western civilisation is drawing near. Don't say we didn't warn you.

  33. Buzzby
    Flame

    Religious Discord

    You want discord in this world then religion appears to supply it in spades. History gives us some nasty stories regardless of the so called creed.

    Like any system it is just a route to power for those at the top! Utmost power and a lovely life what more could a person ask?

  34. Angus
    Boffin

    @ AC 20:47

    Hmm according to the CIA world factbook I don’t think you are in imminent danger of becoming a Islamic State.

    https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/uk.html

    Religions: Christian (Anglican, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist) 71.6%,

    Muslim 2.7%,

    Hindu 1%,

    other 1.6%,

    unspecified or none 23.1% (2001 census)

  35. John Smith Gold badge
    Thumb Down

    AC@16:11

    "Every time i hear of another uber-database i picture a room full of Logica CMG salesmen hi-fiving and raising their pints...."

    Yes, I can't quite shake that feeling either.

  36. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    @Angus

    The census figures are inaccurate and much has changed over the last eight years. There are several million illegals immigrants in Britain, based on supermarket's figures of changes in food consumption.

    The size of the population who are native Britons is shrinking by around 20% per generation, due sub-replacement level fertility, and a continual exodus abroad. This reduction is being more than made up for by higher birth rates among non-native Britons (particularly muslims), combined with around 1/4 million new immigrants every year (not including illegals) of whom a high proportion are also muslim.

    I think you will see those statistics changing rapidly in the next census. On current trends, in a couple of generations from now the native Britons will be an ethnic minority and will lose the democratic right to put an end to this colonisation. Historically whenever countries have been colonised the rate of colonisation increases exponentially. No other group has willing surrendered it's homeland and right to self-determination without protest, so it will be interesting to see what hold Political Correctness has on our population.

  37. This post has been deleted by its author

  38. John Smith Gold badge
    Coat

    AC 19:41

    "Your the Klan anthropologist"

    Mine's the one with a copy of "The Morning After" in it.

  39. John Smith Gold badge
    Joke

    Tantrum alert.

    "In CONTEST 2 however, officials appeared frustrated that the powers to enforce take-down, granted by Section 3 of the Terrorism Act 2006, were useless overseas."

    Is that the sound of teddy being thrown out of a *very* big pram?

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