Government and CEOs to talk tech terrorism
Extremists exploit Web for recruitment
Obama administration officials are scheduled to meet with major tech executives Friday to discuss terror organizations’ growing exploitation of the Internet for recruitment and planning.
Participants will discuss how companies can help federal law enforcement officials better track such communication, according to a person familiar with the meeting who was not authorized to comment publicly on it.
The meeting comes as nations around the world fight the highly skilled online outreach of the Islamic State, which uses social media to create recruitment and public relations materials to promote its efforts.
Apple, Facebook and Twitter said Thursday they will have representatives at the meeting.
Other possible attendees include Google, YouTube, Dropbox and Microsoft.
The meeting will be held in the San Francisco Bay Area, and officials will teleconference from Washington.
A report in The Wall Street Journal said participants from the Obama administration will include Attorney General Loretta Lynch, FBI Director James Comey, White House chief of staff Denis McDonough and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.
The meeting is meant to cover two main topics, said two sources familiar with the planning who were not authorized to comment.
One will be a discussion of how tech firms can make it harder for terrorists to leverage the power of the Internet to disseminate their message, gain recruits andmotivate them to violence.
The second topic will be how those same companies can help others create, publish and amplify alternative content to undercut the Islamic State’s online efforts.
It will likely not deal with the touchy issue of encryption, one of the sources familiar with the planning said.