The Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea, CTED, and ICT4��AV launch next phase of Tech against terrorism

BMUSONI — Thu, 30 Nov 2017 17:03:00 +0000

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As technology develops, terrorists continue to adapt their strategies to exploit information and communications technologies (ICTs) to incite, recruit, fund, and plan terrorist acts. The Security Council recognizes this threat to both online and offline space and calls upon Member States to adopt measures to prevent and address it. As part of these efforts, on 29 November 2017 at the United Nations in New York, the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations, along with the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED), and Swiss non-governmental organization ICT4��AV, hosted an event to launch the next phase of Tech against Terrorism, a knowledge-sharing platform (KSP).

Tech against Terrorism, a joint project between CTED and ICT4��AV, is a public-private partnership that brings together ICT industry leaders – e.g. Facebook, Google, Kaspersky Lab, Microsoft, Telefonica, and Twitter – with startups, governments, and academia to tackle terrorist exploitation of the Internet. The knowledge-sharing platform establishes a sustainable mechanism to coordinate governments with the tech sector, bridges the knowledge-sharing capabilities between startups and ICT industry leaders, and encourages transparency and self-regulation.

The launch enabled major tech companies to reiterate the importance of the initiative, while smaller firms and startups highlighted challenges they face, from human to financial or management-related resources. H.E. Ambassador Cho Tae-yul of the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea, H.E. Ambassador Roman Oyarzun Marchesi of the Permanent Mission of Spain, and H. E. Oliver Zehnder of the Permanent Mission of Switzerland, participated in the launch and each spoke of the necessity of continued efforts in addressing the growing threat of terrorists abusing ICTs. The Executive Director of CTED, Assistant Secretary-General Ms. Michèle Coninsx, emphasized the invaluable relationships developing through Tech against Terrorism among civil society, startup tech companies, established tech platforms, and the wider private sector.

Documents

Agenda for the event

Presentation by Miguel Sánchez SV, Global Chief Security Officer, Telefonica

Presentation by Jeff Collins, Vice President, After School

Webcast

The webcast recording of the event can be accessed here

Photos

More photos from the event are available here

Front Page Article:

CTED-initiated process results in High-Level meeting on preventing terrorist use of the Internet

BMUSONI — Thu, 21 Sep 2017 14:07:00 +0000

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On 20 September 2017, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom co-hosted a high-level United Nations meeting on Preventing terrorist use of the Internet. President Emmanuel Macron of France, Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni of Italy, Prime Minister Theresa May of the UK, and Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Google Kent Walker opened the meeting, which was held on the margins of the 72nd UN General Assembly. Linked to efforts initiated by the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) with the industry to prevent and counter terrorism online, this was the first time that world leaders and technology executives at this level addressed the United Nations on the issue.

The high-level meeting sought to encourage governments and civil society groups to engage with the Global Internet Forum for Counter Terrorism (GIFCT), which Mr. Walker represented on the panel of speakers. When GIFCT was launched by Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, and YouTube on 26 June 2017, the then-Executive Director of CTED welcomed the initiative as elevating “our existing private-public partnership with these and other companies.” The high-level meeting recognized GIFCT as a global focal point in the digital battlespace against terrorists and commended its work in shaping future action needed to address this issue.

UK Prime Minister May commended the attendance at the event as evidence of the commitment held by governments, companies, and civil society in collaborating to protect citizens against the use of the Internet by terrorists to spread their ideology. Many of the speakers reiterated the importance of a global response to protect citizens from incitement through awareness and continued efforts in countering narratives.

According to Monika Bickert, Head of Global Policy Management and the Head of Counter-terrorism at Facebook, GIFCT focuses participating companies’ efforts in a number of areas: Improving the means for detecting terrorist content, including through technical solutions like she Shared Industry Hash Database; commissioning research in this area; and sharing knowledge with counter-terrorism experts. “And through a joint partnership [with UN CTED and the ICT4��AV Initiative “Tech against terrorism”], we’ll work with smaller companies on all of the above.”

Ms. Bickert also emphasized that companies like Facebook and Google recognize the importance in helping people challenge extremist narratives in addition to removing content. The United States Department of Homeland Security representative Claire Grady concluded that “we cannot surrender the digital battlespace to violent extremists.”

The full webcast (in English) of the meeting can be found here.

The joint declaration by the three Heads of State/Government (in French) is available here.

Front Page Article:

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

The Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea, CTED, and ICT4����AV launch next phase of Tech against terrorism

img_8042_edited.jpg

CTED-initiated process results in High-Level meeting on preventing terrorist use of the Internet

print_screen_1.png

The Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea, CTED, and ICT4��AV launch next phase of Tech against terrorism