Rudd: Law tightened to target terrorists’ use of internet
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Counter-terrorism laws are to be updated to keep pace with modern
online behaviour and to address the issue of online radicalisation,
Home Secretary Amber Rudd will announce today. Ms Rudd will set out
her intention to change the law, so that people who repeatedly view
terrorist content online could face up to fifteen years behind
bars. The proposed changes will strengthen the existing offence of
possessing information likely to be useful to a terrorist
(Section...Request free trial
Counter-terrorism laws are to be updated to keep pace with modern online behaviour and to address the issue of online radicalisation, Home Secretary Amber Rudd will announce today. Ms Rudd will set out her intention to change the law, so that people who repeatedly view terrorist content online could face up to fifteen years behind bars. The proposed changes will strengthen the existing offence of possessing information likely to be useful to a terrorist (Section 58 Terrorism Act 2000) so that it applies to material that is viewed repeatedly or streamed online. Currently the power only applies to online material which has been downloaded and stored on the offender’s computer, is saved on a separate device or printed off as a hard copy. The announcement comes as new Home Office analysis shows that since 1st September 2016, Daesh supporters have published almost 67,000 tweets in English, promoting URLs to their propaganda on a range of online platforms, and making English-speakers the second most important audience for Daesh supporters behind only Arabic. Figures also show that in the first eight months of this year, 44, 000 URLs to Daesh propaganda were created and shared. The move to tighten the law around the viewing of terrorist material comes as part of a wide-ranging review of the Government’s counter terrorism strategy, following this year’s terror attacks, and will help provide an important and effective way of intervening earlier in an investigation and disrupting terrorist activity. The legal changes will also increase the maximum penalty from ten to fifteen years to reflect the seriousness of the offence and ensure perpetrators are locked up for longer. The new maximum penalty of fifteen years will also apply to terrorists who publish information about members of the armed forces, police and intelligence services for the purposes of preparing acts of terrorism (Section 58a of the Terrorism Act 2000). There have been a number of prosecutions for terrorism offences which have featured armed forces personnel (or military establishments) as targets for attacks, including the successful conviction of Junead Khan last year for planning to attack personnel at a USAF airbase in Norfolk, and of those responsible for the horrific murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby. Amber Rudd, Home Secretary said: “I want to make sure those who view despicable terrorist content online including jihadi websites, far right propaganda and bomb making instructions face the full force of the law. “There is currently a gap in the law around material which is viewed or streamed from the internet without being permanently downloaded. This is an increasingly common means by which material is accessed online for criminal purposes, and is a particularly prevalent means of viewing extremist material such as videos and web pages. “Changes will enable police and the security service to keep pace with modern patterns of internet use and intervene earlier in an investigation given the speed with which online radicalisation is taking place. “It is also right that the cowardly targeting of the men and women who serve our country is punished in the severest terms. “We are continuing to urgently press the internet companies to do more to stop this kind of vile material being available on their platforms in the first place.” The updated offence will ensure that only those found to repeatedly view online terrorist material will be captured by the offence, to safeguard those who click on a link by mistake or who could argue that they did so out of curiosity rather than with criminal intent. A defence of ‘reasonable excuse’ would still be available to academics, journalists or others who may have a legitimate reason to view such material.
ENDS
For further information, please contact Mo Hussein on 07912 984 907.
Notes to Editors
Example 1: A male was prosecuted for possession of material likely to be useful to a person contrary to section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000. He had looked at other material online and tried to print some of it off, but as he had not printed it he could not be said to be in possession of it and therefore an additional charge contrary to section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which would have been appropriate, was not possible.
Example 2: A male had viewed bomb-making videos on YouTube but because he had not saved the videos, it was not possible to charge him with an offence contrary to s.58 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
S58A TACT 2000 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/11/section/58A
4. Working with the internet companies, we have secured the removal of over 290, 000 pieces of terrorist material from the internet since 2010.
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