An Open Letter To The Home Secretary – Orwellian Surveillance Is Not The Correct Response To The Westminster Attack
I get it. We’re all scared in the wake of the tragedy in Westminster last Wednesday. Khalid Masood’s actions in committing this atrocity are truly reprehensible. But digital communication is not at fault, and adding an Orwellian level of surveillance is not the answer.
Mass Murderer Breivik's Gaming Habits Has MPs Calling For Videogame Bans
Selling just over 14 million copies worldwide since its release in 2007 and having picked up countless awards within its field, the Infinity Ward-developed Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is now picking up the unlikeliest attention; acting as whipping boy for MPs who are bidding to gain more freedom in banning violent videogames. This comes afer Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik admits to using Modern Warfare as a way to “develop target acquisition” using “holographic” technology.
UK Government Report Urges ISPs To Take Down Terrorist Content
A Government report on the roots of religious radicalization and terrorism has sent out a message to ISPs to curate and regulate potentially illegal content that incites terrorism, concluding that the internet "features in most, if not all, of the routes of radicalization."
US Detains And Deports Two Britons For "Destroy America" Tweets
Well this was going to happen at some point for sure. Brits Leigh Van Bryan and his friend Emily Bunting have been barred from America by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for two tweets about "diggin' up Marilyn Monroe" and "destroying America."
If anything, it shows the DHS' systems work in picking up possible 'social' terrorist threats; but we feel as if context may be missed somewhat. According to the two, who claim complete innocence, it's innocent British slang, and the Miss Monroe comment was a Family Guy reference. But, to be fair, in a country that has really stepped up it's security, saying “free this week for a quick gossip/prep before I go and destroy America? x” is pretty damn stupid.
FBI Proposes To Use Social Network Behaviour To 'Predict' Crimes
In becoming ever more tactile in waging war against the criminals of this world, the FBI is asking companies to develop software that will be able to 'scrape' posts, tweets and messages for key 'danger' words and phrases from social network accounts, in addition to monitoring a persons' behaviour through acquiring information from the public domain in order to better track criminal security threats or situations. Succinctly, the Bureau is asking would-be contractors to come up with a software that can “enhance its techniques for collecting and sharing 'open source' actionable intelligence”.