European Officials Agree on Framework for Outlawing Online Terror Recruiting

[Marcus Marulus]

European Officials Agree on Framework for Outlawing Online Terror Recruiting

By ELAINE SCIOLINO and STEPHEN CASTLE

Published: April 19, 2008

PARIS — European Union justice ministers agreed Friday to toughen laws across their 27-nation bloc to punish those who promote violence and recruit people for terrorist attacks.

Reflecting mounting anxiety that the Internet has become a crucial tool for would-be terrorists, the agreement will make it a crime to disseminate terrorist propaganda through the Internet for recruiting, training and bomb-making purposes.

European Union officials described the agreement as a framework that member countries would have to incorporate into their own laws.
Countries that already have strong antiterrorism laws, like Spain and Britain, which have suffered terrorist attacks and give sweeping powers to the police and investigators in terrorism cases, will not need to make significant changes. But countries with more lenient rules, like Sweden and Denmark, may need to adopt new, tougher legislation.

The new rules, aimed at codifying terrorist crimes among countries with very different histories and experiences with terrorism, underscore a growing consensus that in the campaign against terrorism, the mere transmission of information and ideas could be considered a criminal act.
The agreement is intended to help the police find and arrest suspects in cross-border investigations, but also to prevent radicalization.

“The Internet is used to inspire and mobilize local terrorist networks and individuals in Europe,” thus “functioning as a ‘virtual training camp,’ ” the ministers said in their agreement. In a separate move, the ministers agreed on a plan for tighter controls on the sale of explosives and other bomb-making materials.

In an interview in Brussels on Tuesday, Gilles de Kerchove, the European Union’s counterterrorism coordinator, acknowledged that the Internet was becoming an even more dangerous tool for radicalization, and that member states had to develop a revolutionary joint strategy to counter its message.

He said that preventing radicalization was one of the major challenges facing member states, and one of the toughest subjects on which to forge agreement.

“It’s a real challenge because most of the policies are in the hands of the member states,” Mr. de Kerchove said.

While the European Union as a whole has improved cooperation among its members in investigations and border control, he called prevention of radicalization an area “where we may do better.”

The new initiative “important because the Internet plays a huge role — in incitement, in communication, in providing information on how to mount an attack,” he said.

The agreement updates antiterrorism laws passed by the European Union after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The laws were aimed at preventing potential terrorists from exploiting loopholes in various legal systems across the continent.

It could make it easier for authorities to shut down Web sites disseminating terrorist propaganda and bomb-making instructions, and to identify and pursue proselytizers and recruiters. It could also help courts and administrative authorities demand that Internet service providers remove information considered dangerous.

Friso Roscam Abbing, European Commission spokesman on justice and interior issues, said it was not known how many nations would have to change their laws. It was now up to member nations to analyze whether their legislation matches the goals laid down, he said.

Each member country will decide the severity of prison sentences.
The agreement is likely to face opposition in countries where the preservation of civil liberties and freedom of expression can outweigh security concerns.

The ministers defended their initiative as a balanced approach to a widening problem.

“We have been able to strike a very sensitive balance between two important goals,” said Lovro Sturm, justice minister of Slovenia, after the meeting on Friday. “We have to make sure that we respect the human rights and fundamental freedom of the citizens. On the other hand this enables us to lead a more effective fight against terrorism. This improves the capability of the E.U. to prevent terrorist offenses.”

In a separate initiative, the ministers agreed to create a European database to give member governments permanent access to information on incidents and attacks involving explosive devices. The database, which will be run by Europol, the European police agency, will monitor the sale of bomb-making materials and include an early warning system on stolen explosives and other equipment.

Earlier this month, Europol said that the number of arrests connected to terrorism doubled in the European Union in 2007 compared with the year before. Most of the attacks carried out within the bloc, it said, were linked to separatist movements, rather than militant Islam.

Elaine Sciolino reported from Paris, and Stephen Castle from Brussels.

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[Skeptikos Examiner]

We all know that they don't really care about terrorism but free speech and the ability for people to express their views freely the Internet still offers. Terrorism is at least welcome if not supported by them in most cases since it offers them a pretext to push their Orwellian police state agenda.

More people in Europe statistically die from lightning than from terrorism but they push it like it were a real thread to our security.