Security Council - Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) - ICT4peace

The United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) welcomes major private sector initiative to counter terrorism online

BMUSONI — Mon, 26 Jun 2017 18:11:00 +0000

Today 26 June 2017, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, and YouTube announced the formation of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism, an initiative to make their hosted consumer services hostile to terrorists and violent extremists.

“I welcome this major initiative, which elevates our existing private-public partnership with these and other companies,” said United Nations Assistant Secretary-General Jean-Paul Laborde, Executive Director of the Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED). CTED leads ‘Tech Against Terrorism’ (www.techagainstterrorism.org) together with the foundation ICT491��Ƭ��.

“Terrorism is a global threat that can only be defeated by sustained, joint efforts. The United Nations remains committed to addressing the scourge of terrorism, and we look forward to remaining a key partner to the private sector. The Security Council remains seized of this and other issues that represent serious threats to international peace and security, and its adoption last month of resolution 2354 (2017) provides a comprehensive international framework to counter terrorist narratives,” Mr. Laborde added.

Underlining that the spread of terrorism and violent extremism is a pressing global problem and a critical challenge, these companies have already developed policies and removal practices that enable them to take a hard line against terrorist or violent extremist content on their hosted consumer services. By working together, and through the sharing of the best technological and operational elements of their individual efforts, they believe they can have a greater impact on the threat of terrorist content online.

The new forum builds on initiatives including the EU Internet Forum and the Shared Industry Hash Database; discussions with the UK and other governments; and the conclusions of the recent G7 and European Council meetings. It will formalise and structure existing and future areas of collaboration between these companies and foster cooperation with smaller tech companies, civil society groups, and academics, government, as well as supranational bodies such as the EU and the UN.

The scope of the work will evolve over time as needs shift in responding to the ever-evolving terrorist and extremist tactics. Initially, the work will focus on:

Technological solutions: these companies will work together to refine and improve existing joint technical work, such as the Shared Industry Hash Database; exchange best practices as they develop and implement new content detection and classification techniques using machine learning; and define standard transparency reporting methods for terrorist content removals.
Research: they will commission research to inform their counter-speech efforts and guide future technical and policy decisions around the removal of terrorist content.
Knowledge-sharing: these companies will work with counter-terrorism experts including governments, civil society groups, academics, as well as other companies to engage in shared learning about terrorism. And through a joint partnership specifically with UN CTED and the ICT491��Ƭ�� Initiative (techagainstterrorism.org), implementing Security Council resolution 2354 (2017), they are establishing a broad knowledge-sharing network to:
1. Engage with smaller companies: they will help smaller companies develop the technology and processes necessary to tackle terrorist and extremist content online.
2. Develop best practices: these companies already partner with organizations such as the Center for Strategic and International Studies , Anti-Defamation League and the Global Network Initiative to identify how best to counter extremism and online hate, while respecting freedom of expression and privacy. They can socialise these best practices, and develop additional shared learnings on topics such as community guideline development, and policy enforcement.
3. Counterspeech: all of these companies have robust counterspeech initiatives in place (e.g., YouTube’s Creators for Change, Jigsaw’sRedirect Method, Facebook’s P2P and OCCI, Microsoft’s partnership with the Institute for Strategic Dialogue for counter-narratives on Bing, and Twitter’s global NGO training programme). The forum they have now established allows them to learn from and contribute to one another’s counterspeech efforts, and discuss how to further empower and train civil society organisations and individuals who may be engaged in similar work and support ongoing efforts, such as the Civil society empowerment project (CSEP).

These companies will be hosting a series of learning workshops in partnership with UN CTED/ICT491��Ƭ�� in Silicon Valley and around the world to drive these areas of collaboration.

Further information on all of the above initiatives will be shared in due course.

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Launch of “Tech Against Terrorism” — a partnership between technology companies, governments, and UN CTED

BMUSONI — Fri, 31 Mar 2017 09:18:00 +0000

(BRUSSELS) Technology can be used for good or for malicious purposes. Information and communications technologies (ICT) used for terrorist activities are often indistinguishable from regular usage. Also cross-border complexities of the Internet make addressing related issues challenging, particularly in the area of terrorist content.

“Tech Against Terrorism” is a new initiative launched on the margins of RightsCon (a major global event convened around issues related to the Internet and human rights) in Brussels that aims to help Member States and technology and communication companies with these and related issues. Smaller tech and social media companies face particular challenges — be they human, financial, or management-related — in developing and implementing measures to address terrorist activities online.

The second phase of a joint project between the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) and the Swiss NGO ICT491��Ƭ��, with the support of ICT industry leaders, “Tech Against Terrorism” seeks to build bridges between public and private partners, ultimately leading to the development of a normative framework of self-regulation that can guide responses to terrorists’ use of the Internet, in compliance with international law standards.

The “Tech Against Terrorism” project will work with Member States and technology and communication companies to:
– Provide resources and guidance
– Offer a think tank environment and encourage peer learning and support from others who have faced similar challenges
– Develop links between startups and larger businesses, government, and academia.

More from ICT491��Ƭ��: http://ict4peace.org/?p=4868

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For additional information, please contact Mattias Sundholm of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) at sundholm [at] un.org.

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Private-sector engagement crucial in responding to use of the Internet and ICT for terrorist purposes

BMUSONI — Thu, 10 Nov 2016 20:01:00 +0000

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Engagement by the private sector is crucial in responding to use of the Internet and information and communications technology (ICT) for terrorist purposes, according to experts attending an international expert workshop. Organized in Kuala Lumpur on 3 November 2016, the workshop followed two similar events held in Zurich and Silicon Valley.

Bringing together experts from the private sector, civil society, and academia, the workshop was facilitated by the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) and organized by the ICT491��Ƭ�� Foundation, with the assistance of the International Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia.

The aim of the series of workshops was to deepen understanding of the industry’s response to terrorists’ use of such tools, identify progress and challenges, and facilitate dialogue on emerging issues. Workshop participants discussed their respective approaches; emerging practices, norms, and principles; and trends in public-private partnerships.

In December 2016, ICT491��Ƭ�� and CTED will publish a report on the outcome of this phase of the project, based on discussions with workshop participants. The project advisory group also considered a number of proposals and recommendations on sharing knowledge, exchanging good practices, and strengthening capacities, with a view to taking the project into a second phase.

The workshop series was supported by the Governments of Spain and Switzerland, as well as Facebook, Microsoft, and Kaspersky Labs.

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CTED in joint project on private sector engagement in responding to terrorists’ use of information and communications technologies

BMUSONI — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 21:29:00 +0000

On the margins of a conference in Geneva on the prevention of violent extremism on 7-8 April 2016, a joint project was launched on private sector engagement in responding to terrorists’ use of information and communications technologies (ICT). Behind the project are the United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) and the Swiss non-governmental organization ICT491��Ƭ��.

Through the project, CTED and ICT491��Ƭ�� will work with the private sector and civil society to deepen the understanding of current industry responses to terrorists’ use of their products and services, particularly with regard to content, and identify good practices. The ultimate objective of the project is to establish a forum through which these same practices and experiences can be discussed and shared with a greater number of actors. To reach that objective, a series of workshops will be held over the next few months in Europe, Asia, and the Americas with the aim of engaging industry and civil society actors. Initial progress will be presented to the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee later this year.

Present at the launch was a number of industry representatives, including Microsoft, Facebook, Ask.FM, Google, Kaspersky Labs, as well as representatives from United Nations’ counter-terrorism and human rights entities, EU Home Affairs, EUROPOL’s Internet Referral Unit, and representatives of multi-stakeholder initiatives, companies, and think-tanks such as the Global Network Initiative, the Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre at Oxford’s Martin School, SECDEV Canada, and the Institute for Strategic and International Studies in Malaysia.

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