Internet targeted by new EU anti-terror rules

Inciting a terrorist act or providing instruction for making a bomb or a weapon via the internet will be considered as out-and-out terrorist offences, according to new proposals that the Commission will make public next Tuesday.

The services of Vice President Franco Frattini, the EU commissioner in charge of freedom, security and justice, have drafted a document aimed at modifying the current set of EU rules against terrorism to take into account the potential risks related to abuse of the internet. The amendments enlarge the list of acts currently considered terrorism-related offences, adding “public provocation to commit a terrorist offence”, “recruitment” and “training for terrorism”. 

At the moment, the list at EU level includes only “aggravated theft”, “extortion” and “drawing up false administrative documents”. In all of these cases, the terrorism label can be added only if the action is carried out “with a view to committing a terrorist act”. 

The new measures foreseen by the Commission’s proposal have a pre-empting dimension: “For an act to be punishable, it shall not be necessary that a terrorist offence be actually committed”, specifies the document, seen by EURACTIV. 

The internet is the primary target of the new rules. The document defines the Web as “one of the principal boosters of the processes of radicalisation and recruitment”. Called a “virtual training camp”, the internet is considered to be the perfect place for dissemination of terrorist propaganda, thus being the ideal “complement to off-line indoctrination and training”. 

“Preventing such a growing threat constitutes a political urgency. Modern terrorism and its new modus operandi must be fought by the EU with the same determination and strength demonstrated in fighting traditional terrorism”, says the proposal. 

The Commission’s plan implies “an increased use of existing mechanisms under the directive on electronic commerce and the directive on data retention”. 

There will be no new obligations on telecommunication service providers or operators, and the new measures will not have any effect on the EU budget. On the other hand, the text mentions “indirect costs” related to the investigations which will be carried out pursuing the new offences. 

Read more with Euractiv

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