Find new ways to fight media-savvy terrorists

Pakistansponsored terror outfits in the Kashmir Valley have been using Facebook and Twitter to great effect

These days the social media seems to be a favourite haunt as well as tool of terrorist outfits. The Taliban ,otherwise known to be an orthodox outfit, was among the first to start a Twitter account in 2011, followed by the al Qaeda, Al Shabaab of Somalia and the ISIS. All these have used social media as a medium for propaganda as well as recruitment. Pakistan-sponsored terror outfits, especially in the Kashmir Valley, have also taken to social media. Besides Kashmir, some videos of ISIS involving Indian fugitives in the erstwhile IS territory have also surfaced. Terror outfits’ display of strength by uploading videos of gun-toting members or leaders’ speeches has become quite conspicuous, hogging airtime as well as print headlines.

The beginning of this century saw Anwar alawlaki’sonlinepropagandaleadingtothe creation of a brigade of Al Qaeda elements . The online edition of ‘Inspire’ magazine — a mouthpiece of al Qaeda — educated a whole generation of aspiring terrorists about technical aspects of bomb-making. Gradually such online propaganda turned ugly with ISIS releasing grotesque visuals of the slitting of throats of victims made to wear orange jumpsuits. Though the Valley-based terror tapes released so far are not half as gruesome, being largely confined to propaganda by way of sermons and explanations, internal squabbling among different elements in pursuit of self-aggrandisement may nudge them in a similar direction.

Besides propaganda, secure communication platforms offered by a host of Internet giants have posed major challenges for the law enforcement fraternity. As a flip side, the world wide web is a safe haven for and provides all that terror networks need to grow: anonymity, accessibility and a power to broadcast without a whip. A high degree of encryption as floated in the ‘darknet’ has further complicated the task of detection. Consequently, terror outfits have run amok in uploading materials which otherwise would have not circulated as fast, with the entire globe as its audience!

Taking advantage of Internet technology, surreptitious communication flourishes: Several chat platforms are found spreading rumours, malicious campaigns and in many cases active terror conspiracies as well. In the Kashmir Valley, many such groups have been continuously detected and dealt with accordingly by investigational measures. However, sans the support of service providers, beyond a point, investigation suffers.

Unlike the western countries where technology giants provide a reasonable degree of cooperation, we are yet to join that league. As recently reported by The Economist, some of the Internet giants under a voluntary agreement with European regulators are reviewing the content flagged as hateful and xenophobic: Facebook has gone up from 50% on a day to 58%, Twitter from 24% to 39%. Interestingly, in the early days the policy of Twitter — a votary for freedom of speech — was very stringent in content regulation. The Nairobi Mall siege where Al Shabaab used Twitter as a platform for live broadcast of the mayhem it wreaked brought about a shift in policy leading to the suspension of accounts of those posting terror-related content. Although ISIS also extensively used Twitter handles, later, periodic evaluation accompanied by suspension of accounts by Twitter continued.

Even so, whether in the West or elsewhere, all the Internet giants have invariably concealed information behind the curtain of privacy clauses. As I put pen to paper, a debate on striking a fine balance between liberty and regulation is raging. Precious little has been achieved, especially in countries like India for putting in place appropriate legal or technological mechanisms to deal with such misuse of cyberspace.

Hence it is imperative that we come up with progressive legislation for regulating the social media. The existing IT act 2000, alone is not sufficiently equipped to deal with it. In the absence of such laws, dealing with the aforementioned crisis emanating from the cyber world, more often than not, results in “cyber curfew” as seen in coercive measures such as shutting down of Internet services. Such steps can at best, temporarily meet the demands of the situation. As a longterm policy, they are not tenable .The solution then lies in devising new laws backed by the right technology to handle the new media and stave off the rampant use of cyber space by terror outfits.

PRECIOUS LITTLE HAS BEEN ACHIEVED, ESPECIALLY IN COUNTRIES LIKE INDIA FOR PUTTING IN PLACE APPROPRIATE LEGAL OR TECHNOLOGICAL MECHANISMS TO DEAL WITH SUCH MISUSE OF CYBERSPACE