Stopping the Internet from Becoming a Tool of Terrorists

While al-Qaeda took advantage of the Internet’s “dark spaces” to recruit and instruct followers and to spread its message, the Islamic State (IS) has used the web and social media openly. Its beheading videos are the product of a carefully managed propaganda campaign, waged by means of technological innovations that allow its operatives to remain difficult or impossible to trace. In order to counter this threat, argues Robert Hannigan, head of the British intelligence agency tasked with monitoring electronic communication, governments will need the cooperation of the private sector: