Casting the Net on terror

Technology and Internet companies that rule the world of data and transmission have, at last, decided to join hands to purge the Web of pictures and videos aimed at promoting terror. There had been persistent murmurs from the European Union that the largely US-based media businesses were not doing enough to curb terrorism. The strength of the new technology developed for the purpose lies in that it creates tags for any material found unacceptable, and these tags will be shared across the companies’ platforms. In practice it should mean that if one service such as YouTube finds a particular video offensive, it will not be possible for a terror organisation to get it past a Microsoft search engine or on to Facebook and Twitter.

The technology as well as the tie-up is a major step towards checking misuse of the Internet to promote terror, besides opening a window to its use against other crimes at some point. The purist may find this distasteful, because it is as much a step towards creating a potential for curbing the Internet as an engine for unhindered flow of data, irrespective of the nature of information the data holds. This is anathema to those who still believe that more than transmission of data, the Net was built to transmit it free of any regulation.

Then, there is the unresolved — and, probably unresolvable —question: who will judge what content is unfit for hosting on the Web? It is as much a politically loaded question as the private businesses' practical ability and willingness to invest in the mission. Sophisticated algorithms are being developed for weeding out content, but these may lack the nuance that more human intervention may bring. That introduces the cost factor. The threat to security, however, lies not just in mischief-makers using technology for their misguided ends, but also them — and inimical governments — breaking into your data, as demonstrated by Wikileaks or US e-mail hacks in recent years. As with the pre-Net era Press, so with the digital, the balance between freedom, privacy and security will remain a direct factor of what duties and rights governments and societies assume.