UK’s Jacqui Smith as Big Sister
p2pnet news | Freedom:- The US isn’t alone in wanting to get its hands on the Net.
In Britain, at least one key official is calling for “significant” online controls to be imposed by the government.
“National Intelligence director Mike McConnell’s plans to turn the Net into a nothing-is-sacred, no-holds-barred, free-trawl zone for US government intelligence agencies,” p2pnet posted yesterday in a story on how AT&T could easily become Big Brother.
Now British home secretary Jacqui Smith is seriously considering taking on the role of Big Sister, seemingly planning a form of online censorship.
“Where there is illegal material on the internet, I want it removed,” she says, according to the Financial Times.
Her statement came at the launch of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political -Vio-lence at King’s College London she said the UK government was already “systematically disrupting the small group of key propagandists for terrorism in this country,” says the story.
Smith’s statement, “reflects growing official concern over the role of the internet in facilitating Islamist terrorism,” it goes on, quoting Sir Richard Dearlove, chief of MI6 from 1999 to 2005, as saying the Net, “provided the means of binding together radical groups strategically while also promulgating their message”.
The FT continues:
Tackling the problem raised concerns about human rights and basic freedoms, he acknowledged, but he said: ‘I think, in dealing with this problem, there is no alternative to imposing significant controls over the internet’.”
Pauline Neville-Jones, the Conservative party security spokesman, welcomed Ms Smith’s speech but asked: “Why has it taken so long for the government to organise its response to this serious issue?”
Smith’s comments come, “ahead of next week’s publication of the counter-terrorism bill, which extends the limit on pre-charge detention to 42 days,” says Guardian Unlimited, adding:
“She indicated that she would meet internet service providers soon to discuss ways of dealing with social networking sites used by violent extremists to groom vulnerable youngsters. She also hoped the internet industry would cooperate on ways of identifying and removing illegal extremist material from the net.
Also See:-
p2pnet – Big Brother AT&T, January 17, 2008
Financial Times – Smith vows to suppress terrorist websites, January 18, 2008
Guardian Unlimited – Smith vows to tackle ideology of violent extremists, January 18, 2008
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January 19th, 2008 at 3:35 am
The problem with wanting to seize control of what is ostensibly an area of free thought and speech, is where does censorship stop ?
Having looked at the track records of many governments over the years it seems clear the views of the people should take precedence over the views of a minority of what often is less than 10 folks in the entire country.
Democracy is its own answer to those attacking it, suppressing all free speech in the name of the latest attention grabbing news (terrorism/paedophilia/crime) is a crime against humanity in itself.