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Mag. My Hue McGowran
Phone: +43-1-81140-308
E-Mail: mcgowran@newsfox.com
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London (pte037/26.07.2005/14:21) - Since the London bombings of 7/7 and the continued threat of terrorism in Britain, heads of UK police are asking the government for power to attack terrorist websites.
The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) http://www.acpo.police.uk/ has handed MPs a list of anti-terrorism strategies as meanwhile the government reviews its laws on how to fight terrorism.
Ken Jones, chairman of the ACPO Terrorism and Allied Matters Committee, wrote in a statement: "[The] evolving nature of the current threat from international terrorism demands that those charged with countering the threat have the tools they need to do the job. Often there is a need to intervene and disrupt at an early stage those who are intent on terrorist activity in order to protect the public. Clearly our legislation must reflect the importance of such disruptive action."
The list does not give details on how websites would be attacked, but police say the suggestions would also help to impede Internet child pornography - attempting to disable a webserver requires sending floods of data to create blocks.
ACPO statement continues: "This power has significant benefits for counterterrorism and overlaps with other police priorities namely domestic extremism and paedophilia. This issue goes beyond national borders and requires significant international co-operation. The need for appropriate authority and warranty is implicit."
Experts have voiced their concern about the international implications of cyber space attacks.
For example, said Simon Janes, international operations manager for Ibas: "There would have to be some international consent but I can't see a way around it. It does pose the question, what if that [target] is another government website."
And a spokesman for the public technology pressure website, http://www.spy.org.uk , warned that attacks on foreign websites could backfire. He questioned who would define what a 'terrorist website' is? And, additionally, "Will a blog or discussion forum be attacked because one or more of the posters puts up a message gleefully praising some terrorist atrocity or other?"
Currently the only country that seems to have a legal hacking law is Australia, "but it does not appear that they have dared to use it against overseas targets," the spy.org.uk spokesman said. "Hackers will delight in faking their IP addresses, or using UK government systems which they have compromised to launch 'legal' cyber attacks on their victims - how is anybody going to tell the difference?" he continued.
Under the ACPO's proposal, failing to disclose encryption keys and using the Internet to facilitate acts of terrorism would be an offence, a clause included in the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act. This has yet to be signed off by the Home Office, however, and the police have asked for further updates on its progress.
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