The Islamic State, more than any other armed group in the past, uses technology and social media.
The new director of Britain's intelligence agency GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) accused US high-tech companies in his first public intervention of having developed into "command and control networks favored by terrorists" and that they should contribute more to the work of security and law enforcement agencies. "Privacy has never been an absolute right," he said.
Robert Hannigan said that Islamic State, more than any other armed group in the past, is using mobile technology and social media such as Twitter Inc, Facebook Inc and WhatsApp to spread its message, hiding behind complex encryption tools and creating greater problems than ever for security services.
“GCHQ and sister agencies, MI5 and Secret Intelligence Service, do not have the capacity to address these problems with utmost effectiveness without greater support from the private sector, including the largest high‑technology companies that dominate the Internet”
, writes in his article that is published in the Financial Times.
Privacy groups and some British lawyers have accused GCHQ of widespread illegal surveillance of electronic communications, following the leak by Edward Snowden of documents revealing details of the activities of both the British agency and its US partner, the National Security Agency (NSA).
Just a few days into his role as head of GCHQ, Hainingan says that his service must show that it is responsible for the data it has used, however he adds that protection of the private sphere has never been an absolute right”.
“I understand why (high‑tech companies) maintain awkward relationships with governments. They aim to be neutral data conduits and stay outside or above politics”, he says.
“However, no matter how much they despise it, they have evolved into management and control networks favored by terrorists and criminals, who find their services as transformative as we do, and all of us“, says, emphasizing that some companies are in a state of denial regarding the misuse of their technologies.
According to the data that became public through the Snowden leaks, GCHQ and the NSA monitored and recorded communications via phones, email, and social media on a massive scale.
In a speech last month, Ian Lomann, the outgoing director of GCHQ, said during his talk that only an infinitesimally small percentage of this data has been stored, viewed, or heard.
Source: protothema.gr
