Google, Facebook, Twitter Sued by Family of Isis Victim

The family of an American student killed by the Islamic State during a November 2015 attack in Paris is suing Twitter, Facebook and Google for providing “material support” to the terrorist group.

 

Nohemi Gonzalez, 23, was the only American victim among 130 killed in coordinated attacks at a Parisian soccer stadium and concert venue.

In a complaint filed this week in the US District Court of Northern California, her father, Reynaldo Gonzalez, argues the three platforms “have knowingly permitted the terrorist group Isis to use their social networks as a tool for spreading extremist propaganda, raising funds and attracting new recruits.”

The Islamic State, also known as Isis, has active presences on both Facebook and Twitter, though the platforms have cracked down in the past and deactivated accounts affiliated with terrorist organizations.

Google is named in the suit, filed this week, as the owner of YouTube, which the Islamic State has used to post propaganda including videos of executions.

“Google, Twitter and Facebook provide infrastructure and material support for Isis to conduct terrorist activity,” said Keith Altman, attorney for the family. “These companies are not doing a good enough job from keeping the terrorists from using their network.”

In some cases, the complaint says, the social networks place ads next to Islamic State content and share revenue with the terrorist group generated from those ads.

The platforms, though, could be shielded from the suit under provisions of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which does not hold websites liable for content users post.

“[Social networks] can censor more or less anything they want and it also have incredible abilities to leave up as much as they wants to leave up,” said Ryan Calo, professor of law at the University of Washington and co-director of the school’s Tech Policy Lab.

In a statement on its website, Facebook said there was “no place for terrorists or content that promotes or supports terrorism,” but also said the suit was “without merit” and pledged to defend itself “vigorously.”

Twitter also said the suit was “without merit.”

“Violent threats and the promotion of terrorism deserve no place on Twitter and, like other social networks, our rules make that clear,” a spokesman said.

Google declined to comment on pending litigation and defended its “strong track record of taking swift action against terrorist content.”

But Altman said the networks do far too little to police their users. When a site deactivates one account, another pops back up to take its place without much oversight.

“It’s like whack-a-mole,” he said. “I don’t think ISIS could sustain their operation without these social networks.”

The first conference set for the case is in September.

The case is Gonzalez et. al v. Twitter, Inc., Google, Inc., and Facebook, Inc.

 

Source : (gadgets.ndtv.com)

Isis Hackers Target Wrong Google, Takes Down Small Indian Firm: Report

Hackers affiliated to Isis terror group who promised to take down International search engine giant Google has instead targeted a small Indian tech firm, according to a media report.

Cyber Caliphate Army (CCA), a hacking group affiliated to Isis, hit http://www.addgoogleonline.com registered by Gandani K for Indian tech firm Always Say, which offers search engine optimisation (SEO) services to local clients.

According to vocative.com website, CCA had vowed on messaging app Telegram they would attack Google on Monday.

“We promised to hack Google. Keep the promise inshallah (God willing), expect us today,” the group declared.

However, the website claims that a few hours later they had instead defaced the website http://www.addgoogleonline.com which is completely unrelated to the Silicon Valley based Google.

After it was hacked, the website played an Islamic State (Isis) song in French and displaced the official logo along with a sign saying “Hacked By: CCA”.

The CCA’s “defacement of the website” was short-lived as yet another hacker group called “n3far1ous” wiped out the Isis message and replaced it with an “Eat this, Isis” message, and a rock tune playing in the background.

The “n3far1ous” message was still on display Thursday.

The CCA allegedly hacked into 35 British websites, which appear to be a random mix of relatively small British businesses, media reports said.

The websites hacked into include a Japanese dance instructor’s website, a company selling furniture and laminate flooring and a salon.

Isis hackers allegedly said that the attacks were “A message to David Cameron” as revenge for the killing of British Muslim terrorist Junaid Hussain, who was killed in a US-led air strike last year.

The attacks follow pro-Isis hackers’ threats that they would target the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey for shutting down their social media accounts.

Source : (gadgets.ndtv.com)

Isis Propaganda Video Makes Death Threats to Facebook, Twitter CEOs

The dreaded Islamic State militant group has made life threats to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in a new video which shows their photos riddled with digitally added bullet holes, mocking the social media websites’ attempts to block terrorist content from their platforms.

In the 25-minute video, the IS claim they are fighting back against efforts by the social media giants to wipe their platforms of accounts promoting terrorism.

The video includes a direct threat to the tech entrepreneurs, branding them allies of the American “Crusader government”.

Pictures of Zuckerberg and Dorsey can be seen being blasted with a hail of bullets in the amateur footage which emerged.

The video, titled “Flames of the Supporters” and released by a group calling themselves “the sons of the Caliphate army”, ends with a direct threat to the two men, The Sun reported.

A slide toward the end of the video reads, in English: “To Mark and Jack, founders of Twitter and Facebook and to their Crusader government. You announce daily that you suspended many of our accounts and to you we say: is that all you can do? you are not in our league. If you close one account we will take 10 in return and soon your names will be erased after we delete you (sic) sites, #Sons_Caliphate_Army”.

In a separate slide, they also claim to have hacked more than 10,000 Facebook accounts, 150 Facebook groups, and more than 5,000 Twitter accounts. Two scholars who track Isis activity online confirmed

that the video was posted to multiple ISIS forums, including some on the social media platform.

Isis and related terrorist groups have targeted Dorsey at least twice in the past year. A group of self-identified Isis supporters threatened the Twitter founder and CEO in March of 2015 for closing hundreds of their social media accounts.

In its threat, the group claimed that Dorsey and his company started a “war” against the Islamic State, and that the “necks” of Twitter employees have “become an official target to Isis soldiers and supporters.”

Twitter seems to have only stepped up its efforts to wipe Isis off its platform since then.

A few weeks ago, the company announced it had suspended more than 125,000 accounts for threatening or supporting terrorist acts over the past several months.

Twitter also said it has grown its team that looks into reports of terror activity on its network.

Zuckerberg reiterated his stance and Facebook’s policy on helping to fight terrorism online.

A Facebook spokeswoman did not immediately respond to request for comment on this week’s threat.

A Twitter spokesman reiterated the company’s policy and progress on suspending accounts that promote terrorism or any violent threat.

Source : (gadgets.ndtv.com)

National Investigation Agency Seeks Internet Data of IS Suspects

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has sought the help of various Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to obtain the data used by arrested Islamic State suspects.

The suspects had extensively used various social media sites, including WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter, to recruit and promote the ideology of the terrorist outfit in India.

According to sources, the NIA, while seeking the remand of the suspects on Tuesday, told a court here that the suspects also used Internet and Internet-based services such as Telegram, KIK and Surespot.

This was in pursuance of a larger conspiracy, and was aimed at identifying and facilitating recruitment of members and promoting the activities the global terror outfit.

The NIA said the request to obtain the data was being forwarded to the ISPs under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) for criminal matters, the sources told IANS.

It said the information was required, and the accused needed to be in custody to verify the facts that emerge from the contents of the internet-based services used by the accused to communicate with their associates.

According to the sources, many electronic gadgets, including laptops, tablets, mobile phones, SIM cards, memory cards and pen drives, used by the accused had been seized from them after their arrests on January 29.

These were forwarded on February 4 to forensic analysts of the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team.

During in-camera proceedings on Tuesday, District Judge Amar Nath allowed the NIA to quiz the three accused – Sheikh Azhar-Ul-Islam alias Abdul Sattar Sheikh, Mohammed Farhan alias Mohammed Rafiq Shaikh and Adnan Hassan alias Mohammad Hussain – till February 19.

While Sheikh Azhar hails from Jammu and Kashmir, Farhan and Hassan are residents of Maharashtra and Karnataka, respectively.

According to the sources, NIA told the court that custodial interrogation of the accused had led to pointers about links amongst them and their associations with the Islamic State.

All three were presented before the court with their faces covered after the expiry of their police remand.

“During questioning, the accused disclosed that they are active supporters of Islamic State and remained in close contact with several active members of the IS using internet, telephone and other means of communications.”

Defence counsel M.S. Khan opposed the NIA plea to extend their custody, saying the agency had sufficient time to interrogate the accused.

The three have been booked for criminal conspiracy and under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

The NIA added that the trio was involved in a conspiracy to identify, motivate and radicalise recruits and train Indians located both in India and other countries.

Source : (gadgets.ndtv.com)

Twitter Blocks 125,000 Accounts in ‘Terrorist Content’ Crackdown

Twitter said Friday it suspended more than 125,000 accounts, most of them linked to the Islamic State group, as part of increased efforts to eradicate “terrorist content” on the popular messaging platform.

The accounts frozen since mid-2015 were targeted “for threatening or promoting terrorist acts,” said Twitter, which is under pressure from governments to act but is also keen not to be seen as effectively censoring free speech.

“Like most people around the world, we are horrified by the atrocities perpetrated by extremist groups,” Twitter said on its policy blog.

“We condemn the use of Twitter to promote terrorism and the Twitter rules make it clear that this type of behavior, or any violent threat, is not permitted on our service.”

The announcement comes after the United States and other governments urged social networks to take more aggressive steps to root out activity aimed at recruiting and planning violent acts.

Twitter said it already has rules to discourage this activity, but that it was driving up enforcement by boosting staff and using technology to filter violence-promoting content. However the service warned that there is no easy technological solution.

“As many experts and other companies have noted, there is no ‘magic algorithm’ for identifying terrorist content on the Internet, so global online platforms are forced to make challenging judgment calls based on very limited information and guidance,” Twitter said.

“In spite of these challenges we will continue to aggressively enforce our rules in this area and engage with authorities and other relevant organizations to find viable solutions to eradicate terrorist content from the Internet and promote powerful counter-speech narratives.”

Pressure in US, EU
Pressure has been growing on social networks since attacks in Paris in November and southern California in December which were linked to supporters of the Islamic State group, sometimes referred to as Isis.

The White House last year called for “dialogue” with Silicon Valley and others on the subject, saying more should be done “when the use of social media crosses the line between communication and active terrorist plotting.”

The European Commission has also called for talks with major social media networks. And France passed emergency measures last year that could shut down websites or social media accounts which encourage terrorist actions.

In Congress, Senators Dianne Feinstein and Richard Burr proposed legislation to require online communications services to report potential terrorist activity.

Twitter said it has long sought to enforce its rules on promoting violence, while maintaining an open platform.

“As an open platform for expression, we have always sought to strike a balance between the enforcement of our own Twitter rules covering prohibited behaviors, the legitimate needs of law enforcement, and the ability of users to share their views freely – including views that some people may disagree with or find offensive,” the blog said.

But in recent months, Twitter added that “we have increased the size of the teams that review reports, reducing our response time significantly” and used “spam-fighting tools to surface other potentially violating accounts for review by our agents.”

By ramping up the efforts, Twitter said, “we have already seen results, including an increase in account suspensions and this type of activity shifting off of Twitter.”

Brett McGurk, a US government envoy in the global coalition to counter the Islamic State group, lauded Twitter’s move.

“Welcome moves by @twitter to shut down over 125k #ISIL related and #ISIL associated accounts,” he tweeted, using another acronym referring to the Islamic State group.

Also welcoming the effort was Abraham Cooper, head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Digital Terrorism and Hate Project, who has long pressed for curbs on groups promoting violence online.

“This is a long overdue move,” Cooper said in a statement. “For years, Twitter has been the social media weapon of choice for terrorists, with Isis alone sending out 200,000 tweets a day. The decision to remove terrorists’ postings by Twitter will help degrade the incredibly successful international online marketing campaigns by Isis, al Qaeda, Al Shabab and their ilk.”

Last March, Facebook updated its “community standards,” saying this would curb the use of the social network giant for promoting terrorism or hate speech.

The update said Facebook will not allow a presence from groups advocating “terrorist activity, organized criminal activity or promoting hate.”

The move came after videos of gruesome executions appeared on Facebook and other social media as part of Islamic State group propaganda efforts.

Source : (gadgets.ndtv.com)