"The dark net is an underworld that stretches from popular social media sites to the most secretive corners of the encrypted web", according to the think tank The Henry Jackson Society, which recently invited author and Director of the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media at Demos, Jamie Bartlett, to divulge his knowledge of the dark net at a special event in London.
.@RobinSimcox kicks off our event with @JamieJBartlett, 'The Dark Net' #hjsevents pic.twitter.com/TLDx2xXKl2
— HenryJacksonSociety (@HJS_Org) May 19, 2015
ISIS are monitoring innovations in the dark net because media war is increasingly significant for them argues @JamieJBartlett #hjsevents
— HenryJacksonSociety (@HJS_Org) May 19, 2015
Bartlett's book, 'The Dark Net: Inside the Digital Underworld', shines a light on the world that is becoming increasingly utilized by terrorist groups. Its very nature and deep existence within cyberspace often causes concern for authorities as being an area awash with criminal activity and purporting extremist views.
Single way forward in policing the dark net on a large scale: return to old fashioned human intelligence says @JamieJBartlett #hjsevents
— HenryJacksonSociety (@HJS_Org) May 19, 2015
Dark net once a way for people who genuinely needed to circumnavigate censorship to do so. Now 30-60k sites exist on the fringes #hjsevents
— HenryJacksonSociety (@HJS_Org) May 19, 2015
A recent report, published by the European Union Counter Terrorism Unit, said "Europe is facing an unprecedented, diverse and serious terrorist threat" and suggested "the Commission should deepen the engagement with the Internet companies.
"Since February 2010, social media platforms and other parts of the Internet industry have voluntarily removed 72,000 pieces of terrorist content following referrals from the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit."
In October last year, European Union commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom and Italian interior minister Angelino Alfano hosted a private dinner for online tech giants and government officials. The topic of conversation was how to challenge threats posed by terrorists operating online.
Ministers from all the 28 member states and members of the European Commission attended the meeting with the technology firms in Luxembourg. But as governments and firms continue to try and combat online terrorist rhetoric, there are fears their force will push people and groups deeper into cyberspace and towards the dark net.
