Terrorism and Internet Governance: Core Issues

New report from the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research:

"This paper explores the difficulties of Internet governance in the light of terrorists’ increasing use of the medium. In particular, it details the clampdown on the burgeoning Internet presence of extremist groups undertaken by both state-based and substate actors in the wake of the attacks of September 2001 in the United States and of July 2005 in the United Kingdom."

The challenges of governance are many and varied, but include:

• Debates over the role of various actors in the governance process, including national governments, hacktivists, and Internet service providers (ISPs);
• The appropriate legislative response to the terrorist Internet presence; and
• The debate over free speech versus limits on speech.

[RJ]