Controls on ‘Wild West’ internet inadequate, says police chief

The internet is a “latter-day Wild West” with inadequate controls, Yorkshire’s most senior policeman said today as MPs warned of its “fertile breeding ground for terrorism”.

West Yorkshire Chief Constable Sir Norman Bettison revealed almost 300 websites and pages have been removed by a specialist police unit he created to help tackle the roots of extremism.

He was speaking as an inquiry by an influential panel of MPs reported that the internet played a part in most, if not all, cases of violent radicalisation – more than universities, prisons or places of worship.

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The Home Affairs Select Committee urged internet service providers (ISPs) to be more active in monitoring the websites they host after its analysis of efforts to combat violent radicalisation since July 7, 2005, when four al-Qaida-inspired suicide bombers from Yorkshire attacked London, killing 52 and injuring more than 770.

Sir Norman, who leads on counter-radicalisation for the Association of Chief Police Officers and gave evidence to the inquiry, said: “The internet is the latter-day Wild West. The boundaries and the territories have been opened up and we would all see it is likely to be to the long-term benefit and advantage of civilisation.

“We cannot now imagine what the world was like without the worldwide web but, just like the Wild West, the controls have not been fully thought through yet.”

Today’s report also calls on the Government to work with ISPs to develop a code of practice for the removal of material which promotes violent extremism.

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Some of this work is already under way. Sir Norman set up the special unit 18 months ago to investigate websites that pose a risk of radicalisation.

“It only has a dozen people,” he added, “but they have managed to take down 273 sites or web pages, not by prosecution in court but by negotiating with internet providers.

“A lot of these service providers are outside of this country, either in countries that pay even less regard to regulation – Eastern Europe is an example – or in the US, and Texas in particular, where there is a strong Third Amendment rule that means the authorities are reluctant to go anywhere near.

“There are still a lot of responsible service providers out there and, when you bring to their attention they are on the threshold, they have shown they are prepared to take them down.”

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Britain’s counter-radicalisation strategy, Prevent, was reviewed by the coalition last year after it was criticised for allegedly spying and focusing on Muslim communities. The Home Affairs Committee said today it should be renamed “Engage” and show “the British state is not antithetical to Islam”.

Sir Norman said: “It is diminishing, but there is still the sense in some parts that a key part of Prevent is spying. What I have always insisted in West Yorkshire is that anything we do in relation to Prevent will be transparent, overt and carried out by uniformed officers.

“If these officers become aware through that engagement of some intelligence that suggests somebody is a threat to public safety, they will pass that on. But that is not the purpose of their role.

“Extremism, and particularly violent extremism, is not confined to a single source or a single faith or community. Hatred and criminal activity can bubble up anywhere.”

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Sir Norman added there was “really quite a high threshold to cross into criminality” and messages posted on the internet by groups such as the far-Right English Defence League rarely warranted prosecution, even though they might be described as “inappropriate, brash or insensitive”.

Sir Norman was among those who gave evidence to the committee’s inquiry to find out the major “drivers” of recruitment to terrorist movements linked to Islamist fundamentalism, Irish dissident republicanism and domestic extremism.

Another was preacher Abu Hamza, jailed for seven years in 2006 for inciting murder and race hate, who spoke to MPs last November from his maximum-security prison.

“Abu Hamza believed the drivers of radicalisation to be grievance, guilt and capability,” the committee’s report said. “Grievances were driven by British foreign policy (relating to Palestine and Afghanistan) and a sense that the Prophet was being mocked.”

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The report went on: “He did not believe that unemployment was a source of grievance, and considered that groups who suggested it was were ‘blackmailing’ the Government for funding.

“Guilt was driven by a feeling that you were safe but your brother was not and you could not help him.”

The committee also called for better information-sharing between prison bosses, the police and the UK Border Agency (UKBA) following the release of prisoners convicted of terror offences.

A Home Office spokesman said: “Our new Prevent strategy challenges extremist ideology, helps protect institutions from extremists, and tackles the radicalisation of vulnerable people. Above all, it tackles the threat from home-grown terrorism on and off line. We are working closely with the police and internet service providers to take internet hate off the web.”

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Nick Pickles, director of civil liberties and privacy group Big Brother Watch, said: “There is a serious risk that this kind of censorship not only makes the internet less secure for law-abiding people, but drives underground the real threats.”

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