Our picksIslamist Terrorism Isn’t the Threat It Used to Be | Removing of Online 'Terrorist Content' | Tackling Ransomware Security Threat, and more
· Ten Years Later, Islamist Terrorism Isn’t the Threat It Used to Be
· Is Amazon Recommending Books on Qanon and White Nationalism? Browsing Books Can Lead to Extremist Rabbit Hole
· France’s Macron Eyes Artificial Intelligence to Monitor Terrorism
· Navy SEALs to Shift from Counterterrorism to Global Threats
· What Chad’s Crisis Means for Fighting Jihad in Africa
· Germany to Spy on COVID Skeptics over Concerns of Extremist Ties
· EU Passes Law for Quick Removal of Online ‘Terrorist Content’
· Domestic Terrorism Law Being Weighed by Justice Department
· Congress Needs to Review UN Agency’s Terror Finance Problem
· ISIS Human Trafficking Networks Inquiry Launched by British Parliament
· Germany Puts Anti-Lockdown Group under Surveillance for Possible Extremist Ties
· NIST, CISA Share Software Supply Chain Attack Defense Guidance
· U.S. Creates Tasks Force to Tackle Ransomware Security Threat
Ten Years Later, Islamist Terrorism Isn’t the Threat It Used to Be (Fareed Zakaria, Washington Post)
This weekend marks the 10th anniversary of the operation, code-named Neptune Spear, that killed Osama bin Laden. It’s an opportunity to reflect on the state of Islamist terrorism and radical Islam more generally. And the initial diagnosis is clear: The movement is in bad shape.
Is Amazon Recommending Books on Qanon and White Nationalism? Browsing Books Can Lead to Extremist Rabbit Hole (Jessica Guynn, USA Today)
Amazon’s book recommendation algorithms that help customers discover new titles may have a dark side. A new report from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue says these algorithms steer people to books about conspiracy theories and extremism, sometimes introducing them to the work of conspiracy theorists who’ve been banned by other online platforms. People browsing a book about one conspiracy on Amazon are likely to get suggestions for more books on that topic as well as books about other conspiracy theories about everything from QAnon to the COVID-19 vaccine, the report found. Other features, such as auto-complete in the search bar and content suggestions for the author or similar authors can also lead users down an extremist rabbit hole, said Chloe Colliver, head of digital policy and strategy at the ISD. The pattern is similar to problems observed on other major online platforms like Google’s YouTube, whose algorithms have been found to direct users to extreme content, sucking them into violent ideologies. “Given that vaccinations and Covid-19 issues are currently top of mind for many, the potential for recommendation of false or extremist information about these topics is certainly concerning,” Colliver told USA TODAY.
France’s Macron Eyes Artificial Intelligence to Monitor Terrorism (Stacy Meichtry and Sam Schechner, Wall Street Journal)
The government of French President Emmanuel Macron aims to deploy algorithms and other technology to monitor the web-browsing of terror suspects amid growing tensions over a group of retired generals who recently warned the country was sliding toward a civil war. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Jean Castex said the government plans to submit a bill to parliament seeking permanent authority to order telecommunications companies to monitor not just telephone data but also the full URLs of specific webpages their users visit in real time. Government algorithms would alert intelligence officials when certain criteria are met, such as an internet user visiting a specific sequence of pages. (Cont.)
