Scientists and investors warn on AI, article du FT
▻http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/3d2c2f12-99e9-11e4-93c1-00144feabdc0.html?siteedition=intl&?ftcamp=crm/email/_DATEYEARFULLNUM___DATEMONTHNUM___DATEDAYNUM__/nbe/FirstFTEurope/product#axzz3OZBp5KxX
Scientists and investors warn on AI, article du FT
▻http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/3d2c2f12-99e9-11e4-93c1-00144feabdc0.html?siteedition=intl&?ftcamp=crm/email/_DATEYEARFULLNUM___DATEMONTHNUM___DATEDAYNUM__/nbe/FirstFTEurope/product#axzz3OZBp5KxX
The Isis economy: Meet the new boss
▻http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/b2c6b5ca-9427-11e4-82c7-00144feabdc0.html?siteedition=intl#axzz3O2GAm7Qw
In Isis-controlled Syria, electricity still functions a few hours a day — courtesy of Mr Assad’s regime. Mahmoud, an engineer, and his colleagues still file into the same power plants where they worked for years before Isis took over. But while the militant group’s oil and gas authority now oversees them, the Damascus government still pays their wages. Thousands of civil servants have similar arrangements in Isis-controlled Syria and Iraq, where locals risk long and dangerous drives to pick up their pay in Baghdad.
Isis seized control of three dams and at least two gas plants in Syria used to run state electricity. Rather than risk blowing out swaths of the power grid, Damascus appears to have struck a deal.
“Isis guards their factories and lets state employees come to work,” Mahmoud says. “It gets to take all the gas produced for cooking and petrol and sell it. The regime gets the gas needed to power the electrical system, and also sends some electricity to Isis areas.”
Not only does the Assad government pay the gas plant staff, but workers say it sends in spare parts from abroad and dispatches its own specialists to the area for repairs.
The sharing economy must share the risks - FT.com
▻http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/d3bd6750-848d-11e4-bae9-00144feabdc0.html?segid=0100320#axzz3Ntcd2Ezt
This has been the year of Uber. “Everyone is starting to worry about being Ubered,” Maurice Lévy, chief executive of advertising group Publicis, told the Financial Times this week. The sharing economy in which online platforms co-ordinate hundreds of thousands of freelancers to drive cabs, rent rooms (Airbnb), clean laundry (Washio) and perform other services has arrived.
As companies recognise the threat, governments and regulators are struggling to adjust and consumers are unsure whether to trust the new type of business. The greatest uncertainty, however, faces workers. As self-employment, start-ups and one-person “micro-businesses” comprise a larger share of the workforce, workers are becoming more free and more at risk.
La politique budgétaire européenne et l’euro : passé, présent, futur
▻http://www.taurillon.org/la-politique-budgetaire-europeenne-et-l-euro-passe-present-futur-7040
Pour le citoyen lambda, les fondations financières de l’Union européenne peuvent paraître complexes. De multiples traités, accords et politiques s’entrecroisent, la plupart fonctionnant en tandem. Compte tenu de l’histoire mouvementée de l’Union européenne ces dernières années, il est important d’analyser l’impact de sa politique budgétaire.
Économie & Société
/ #Economie, #Crise_économique, #Gouvernance_économique, Traité budgétaire (TSCG)
#Économie_&_Société #Traité_budgétaire_TSCG_
▻http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/8839697/EUs-new-six-pack-shows-just-how-tough-Europe-will-be-on-national-govern
▻http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/articles/governance/2012-03-14_six_pack_en.htm
▻http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/economic_governance/the_european_semester/index_en.htm
▻http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-13-457_en.htm
▻http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/oct/22/europes-debt-learn-us-liability-model-hans-werner-sinn
▻http://delilawblog.wordpress.com/2014/02/11/the-fiscal-compact-how-the-treaty-on-stability-coordination-a
▻http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6c327312-6400-11e4-8ade-00144feabdc0.html#slide0
▻http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/987e237c-5f81-11e4-a882-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3IChTIEEP
▻http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/oct/17/eurozone-crisis-five-years-on-greek-odyssey
▻http://www.robert-schuman.eu/en/european-issues/0320-reforming-the-european-union-with-which-methods-what-are-the-opt
►http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/oct/17/europe-in-turmoil-five-years-of-economic-crisis
A kingdom fit for an oil price ordeal - FT.com
▻http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/55fd04a4-8f48-11e4-b080-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=crm/email/20141230/nbe/MiddleEast/product#axzz3NO4QN4Td
For Riyadh, something more vital is at stake. In keeping with the more assertive attitude it has shown in the past year, it is taking a big risk on lower oil prices, in the hope of preserving its market share in a world of weakened oil demand and growing supply, particularly from the US shale boom.
After a long and mysterious silence, Ali Naimi, the veteran oil minister, made clear just before Christmas that, in refusing to cut production without a similar move by non-Opec producers, Saudi Arabia was trying to prove to the world that survival is for the fittest.
And the fittest in this case is the kingdom, which has the lowest cost of production, but also low debt and massive foreign exchange reserves of more than $700bn.
Not only was Saudi Arabia defending its market share, he told the Middle East Economic Survey newsletter; it was also declaring that “high efficiency producing countries are the ones that deserve market share”.
A kingdom fit for an oil price ordeal - FT.com
▻http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/55fd04a4-8f48-11e4-b080-00144feabdc0.html?siteedition=intl#axzz3NOCaUiwG
(...) Leading the charge into battle is Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest exporter and long-time leader of the Opec cartel, which is fighting for its status as king of hydrocarbons. Maintaining this position is crucial not only to the economy of the kingdom, but also to its role as the Gulf powerhouse and the west’s main strategic Arab ally.
Saudi Arabia proved unwilling or unable to arrest the slide in oil prices in recent months, and debate has raged over Riyadh’s motives. Was it deliberately contributing to the depression of prices to devastate the economy of its regional rival, Iran? Was it engaged in an American-Saudi ploy to intensify the pressure on Russia?
Neither, as it turned out. Saudi Arabia has not abandoned its traditional policy of separating oil strategy from foreign policy, even if it is likely to relish the secondary effects of its behaviour on states with which it disagrees.
For Riyadh, something more vital is at stake. In keeping with the more assertive attitude it has shown in the past year, it is taking a big risk on lower oil prices, in the hope of preserving its market share in a world of weakened oil demand and growing supply, particularly from the US shale boom.
After a long and mysterious silence, Ali Naimi, the veteran oil minister, made clear just before Christmas that, in refusing to cut production without a similar move by non-Opec producers, Saudi Arabia was trying to prove to the world that survival is for the fittest.
And the fittest in this case is the kingdom, which has the lowest cost of production, but also low debt and massive foreign exchange reserves of more than $700bn.
(...) Perhaps the trickiest question lies within the kingdom. The just-issued Saudi budget for 2015 projects a slight increase in overall spending despite a significant reduction in revenues, to ease doubters’ concerns that falling oil receipts will cause an economic slowdown.
Mr Naimi is the most powerful among non-royal technocrats and has the confidence of an ailing monarch. Despite grumbling in the business community, it is reasonable to assume that such a critical decision was taken with fairly broad support among senior princes.
The battle with US shale, however, could be long-drawn-out, testing what might be a fragile domestic consensus. How long before it begins to fray as the kingdom dips deeper into its foreign exchange reserves?❞
#Fil : de fait, j’aurais plus tendance à suivre ce “rationale” comme ils disent !
Answering a direct question whether it was the US that collapsed oil prices globally to create problems for Russia, Obama said that Russian economy “was already contracting and capital was fleeing even before oil collapsed.”
Obama revealed that it was a “part of our rationale” that the “only thing” keeping Russian economy “afloat” was the price of oil.
▻http://rt.com/usa/218731-obama-npr-interview-russia
Saudi Arabia and UAE blame oil rout on countries outside Opec - FT.com
▻http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/39472a66-88ee-11e4-ad5b-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=crm/email/20141223/nbe/MiddleEast/product&siteedition=intl#axzz3MbkLbOXF
Ahead of last month’s Opec meeting in Vienna, Mr Mazroui told the Financial Times: “Yes, there is an oversupply but that oversupply is not an Opec problem.”
He also said that non-Opec countries and high-cost production — such as oil from US shale fields — should play a role in balancing the market. Lower prices would help cut excess supplies from more expensive oilfields while preserving the share of lower-cost Opec producers as well as induce demand. The “market will fix it”, he said in November.
Egypt and Qatar inch towards detente after Saudi-brokered talks - FT.com
▻http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/584ef90c-892f-11e4-ad5b-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=crm/email/20141222/nbe/WorldNews/product#axzz3MbkLbOXF
“The Saudis are trying to narrow the gaps between Egypt and Qatar,” said Michael Wahid Hanna, an analyst at the Century Foundation in New York. “But they are not looking for a compromise, rather for a change in behaviour on the part of Qatar.”
Qatar’s independent foreign policy and its support for Islamists constitute an attempt to escape Saudi hegemony in the region, Mr Hanna said. That would make it difficult for Doha to “swallow a Saudi-led plan” requiring a radical change to its stance on regional affairs.
“We have seen some small steps, and the GCC policy is beginning to ease tensions but I think the Saudis and the Emiratis have expectations from Qatar which it may not be inclined to grant,” Mr Hanna added.
Omar Ashour, a senior lecturer at the University of Exeter and a non-resident fellow at Brooking Doha Center, believes there may be “a truce without major consequences for the foreign policy of either Egypt or Qatar.”
Qatar would like to see an end of “the smear campaign” against its royal family in the Egyptian press, Mr Ashour said, but he cast doubt on the prospect of Doha reining in Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr.
Rich Russians head for UK in record numbers - FT.com
▻http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/62cc361a-892a-11e4-9b7f-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=crm/email/20141222/nbe/WorldNews/product&siteedition=intl#axzz3MbkLbOXF
the number of Russians who were granted investor visas this year has soared by 69 per cent, according to Home Office statistics. The visas gave foreigners from outside the EU a fast track to residence and citizenship in return for buying gilts worth £1m to £10m.
[...]
Investor visas have proved particularly popular with Russians and Chinese, but the British government is — for the first time in two decades — making them harder to obtain. New rules that came into force last month raised the minimum amount needed to £2m from £1m, and brought in restrictions on the nature of the investment.
Until the recent change, visa applicants had been permitted to spend a quarter of their total UK investment on property, but this is no longer allowed. Although the Home Office did not given a reason for its decision, it was widely considered to be a response to public anxiety about foreigners investing in London properties that remain vacant.
#Kafkaesque incident #3: asking #Russia to help #IMF bail out #Ukraine, while sanctioning it officially b/c of Ukraine
▻https://mobile.twitter.com/NinaByzantina/status/542833977132716032
▻http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/9a3efede-7fc5-11e4-acf3-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3LhdzOMYZ
Updated Russian military doctrine has no preemptive nuclear strike provision - source - Interfax
▻http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=558118
A new edition of the Russian military doctrine does not contain a preemptive nuclear strike provision but it clearly defines circumstances under which strategic nuclear forces can be used, a source involved in the drafting of the document told Interfax-AVN on Wednesday.
“The updated version of the military doctrine will not have a provision regarding a possible preemptive nuclear strike on a potential enemy. Article 18 of this document clearly defines conditions for the use of strategic armaments of the Russian nuclear triad. That will be possible if the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Russian Federation are threatened with destruction,” he said.
“Persistent proposals have been made [during expert discussions] to include a provision allowing for the possibility of nuclear strikes on the territory of a potential aggressor or a group of countries in the updated military doctrine,” the source noted.
Depuis un mois, la publication prochaine de ces éléments de doctrine agite quelques rédactions.
Putin aims to cement China links as ties with west fray - FT.com (10/11/2014)
▻http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/31e95c5e-68b8-11e4-af00-00144feabdc0.html
Russia’s updated military doctrine is expected to target Nato and the US more clearly as the Ukraine crisis has frayed Moscow’s relations with the western alliance.
The current doctrine only lists Nato expansion, foreign troop deployments in neighbouring states, destabilisation in certain countries and deployment of missile defence systems as “external military dangers”.
People familiar with the document said Nato and the US would be openly designated as threats or adversaries in the document’s new version, due to be published next month.
Russian diplomats and analysts also said Moscow hoped to build the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, founded by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tadjikistan in 1996, into a more meaningful security alliance.
In a speech last month that left western observers bewildered for its rabid anti-Americanism and its lack of proposals for a positive agenda, Mr Putin bemoaned what he described as the destruction of the mechanisms that used to govern international security affairs.
“Sadly, there is no guarantee and no certainty that the current system of global and regional security is able to protect us from upheavals. This system has become seriously weakened, fragmented and deformed,” Mr Putin said. He accused the US of creating a world order in which brute force could become the only means for resolving conflicts.
The bold and the sold: Barack Obama spoils diplomacy - FT.com
▻http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/c087bdb6-7bb4-11e4-a695-00144feabdc0.html
Until recently, ambassadorial postings split roughly seven to 10 in favour of career diplomats — with presidential donors taking about 30 per cent. In Mr Obama’s second term, the share of political names has risen to 41 per cent, according to the Foreign Service Association, which represents America’s increasingly alienated career diplomats.
In other words, things have deteriorated since 2008. This chiefly reflects the galloping costs of US elections, rather than any moral failing on Mr Obama’s part. But some of the damage is self-inflicted. When Mr Obama campaigned for office, he vowed to “change the way Washington does business”. Arguably he has kept that promise, but not in the way voters interpreted it.
The trend also undercuts another of Mr Obama’s pledges: to take diplomacy much more seriously than Mr Bush, whom he rightly criticised for relying too heavily on military means of engaging the world.
Russian bond yield rockets to five-year high - fastFT: Market-moving news and views, 24 hours a day - FT.com
▻http://www.ft.com/intl/fastft/246701/russian-bond-yield-rockets-five-year-high
The rouble is the worst performing major currency in the world today, and has only been hauled off its record low by a series of central bank interventions in recent days. The latest data indicate that it spent $1.9bn on December 3 to buttress the currency.
Investors are still dumping their Russian bond holdings, however, as fears grow over the financial and economic impact of the sliding oil price and of western sanctions over Moscow’s support for Ukrainian separatists.
Fifa in turmoil over Qatar World Cup bid - FT.com
▻http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/391e3272-6b17-11e4-be68-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=crm/email/20141113/nbe/WorldNews/product
The conclusions stem from an investigation by US lawyer Michael J. Garcia into corruption allegations surrounding the 2010 vote by Fifa’s executive committee to choose the two tournaments’ hosts. But publication of a 42-page summary prompted Mr Garcia, who chairs Fifa’s investigatory chamber, to issue an explosive statement distancing himself from the findings.
The summary, he said, “contains numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations of the facts and conclusions” he had compiled in his own report. He added that he would appeal against the findings to the Fifa appeal committee.
His dramatic intervention made a mockery of Fifa’s attempt to lay to rest once and for all the latest allegations of skulduggery that have further tarnished its reputation, which has long been in question.
Qatar accused of ‘dragging its feet’ on labour reform ahead of World Cup - FT.com
▻http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/14f9bc98-69a7-11e4-9f65-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=crm/email/20141112/nbe/WorldNews/product&siteedition=intl#axzz3J4WYsaaP
Amnesty said the proposed legislation was “marginal tinkering at best”.
The charges that Doha is “dragging its feet” on labour reform highlights the inability of the autocratic country to push though reforms in the face of a powerful domestic business lobby that has become accustomed to cheap labour, despite the threat to Qatar’s global reputation.
#travail_des_enfants : le grand écart de #Samsung entre les discours et la réalité
▻http://multinationales.org/Travail-des-enfants-le-grand-ecart
À force de promouvoir, publicités à l’appui, un « monde meilleur » sans rien faire de concret pour améliorer les conditions des travail dans sa #chaîne_d'approvisionnement, #Samsung commence à voir sa réputation sérieusement entachée. En totale contradiction avec les engagements éthiques du géant coréen, le travail des enfants semble une réalité omniprésente dans les usines chinoises qui fabriquent ses smartphones et autres gadgets. Deux associations françaises ont voulu dénoncer cette hypocrisie et mettre (...)
Actualités
/ Samsung, #Industries_électroniques, #Chine, Samsung, #Industries_électroniques, #Sherpa, ActionAid / Peuples Solidaires, #conditions_de_travail, travail des enfants, #travail_digne, chaîne d’approvisionnement, #responsabilité_juridique_des_entreprises, responsabilité sociale des (...)
#ActionAid_/_Peuples_Solidaires #responsabilité_sociale_des_entreprises #éthique #publicité_mensongère #marketing #Greenwashing
« ►http://www.francetvinfo.fr/replay-magazine/france-2/cash-investigation »
« ▻http://www.samsung.com/us/aboutsamsung/sustainability/sustainabilityreports/sustainabilityreports2014.pdf »
« ▻http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn »
« ▻http://www.industriall-union.org/fr/les-violations-empirent-chez-nxp-fournisseur-de-apple-aux-philipp »
« ▻http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/buyersguides/phonebroadband/mobilephones.aspx »
« ▻http://www.novethic.fr/empreinte-terre/economie-circulaire/isr-rse/samsung-se-fait-certifier-en-suede-139800.html »
« ▻http://www.asso-sherpa.org/samsung-en-chine-atteinte-aux-droits-fondamentaux-des-travailleurs »
« ▻http://affectiomutandi.com/etude-kepler-cheuvreux »
« ▻http://www.peuples-solidaires.org/appel-urgent-samsung-travail-des-enfants »
« ▻http://www.prix-pinocchio.org/nomines.php#samsung »
« ▻https://www.danwatch.dk/en/articles/mobil-producenter-sikrer-sig-ikke-mod-boernearbejde/282 »
« ▻http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/apr/25/samsung-tin-mines-indonesia-child-labour »
« ▻http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/upfile/2014_07_10/2014.07.10%20Shinyang%20Electronics.pdf »
« ▻http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/upfile/2014_08_27/2014.08.28%20HEG%20investigation.pdf »
« ▻http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/11/business/international/children-found-working-at-samsung-supplier-in-china.html »
« ▻http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/52619380-2e7e-11e4-bffa-00144feabdc0.html »
Labour abuse claims overshadow Guggenheim Abu Dhabi show - FT.com
▻http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/21a99dac-6342-11e4-9a79-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=crm/email/2014113/nbe/WorldNews/product&siteedition=intl#axzz3I8NiGnKz
But the Guggenheim, whose main museum in New York has also been targeted by demonstrations relating to its Abu Dhabi branch, has been criticised for failing to address protests against its expansion into the Middle East.
Gulf Labor, an international artists’ pressure group that includes Lebanese artist Walid Raad, has called on Abu Dhabi’s government to pay labourers working on the futuristic museum – designed by renowned US architect Frank Gehry – a living wage and allow them to form workers’ councils.
The artists’ body has also called on the company developing the museum on Saadiyat Island to award a one-off fee of $2,000 to help workers pay off onerous recruitment fees.
Mr Armstrong, during a preview of the exhibit to the press on Sunday, refused to answer questions about labour conditions in the UAE.
Criticism of inadequate labour standards throughout the oil-rich Gulf region has overshadowed its grandiose cultural and sporting projects. Neighbouring Qatar has come under intense pressure for the conditions faced by the labourers constructing stadiums for its controversial hosting of the World Cup in 2022, while Dubai has also faced sustained criticism for more than a decade over the working conditions of labourers, who are often from south Asia.
Israeli finance minister vetoed spending on Jewish settlements - FT.com
▻http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/f3787098-60df-11e4-894b-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=crm/email/20141031/nbe/WorldNews/product&siteedition=intl#axzz3HpSRgHYM
Israel’s finance minister said he vetoed new spending on infrastructure for Jewish settlements in the West Bank after an “angry meeting” at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, and criticised the timing of the recent announcements on building plans that have inflamed tensions with Palestinians and the US.
Yair Lapid, head of the centre-right Yesh Atid party in Mr Netanyahu’s coalition, said he had refused a funding request worth Shk200m to Shk300m ($53m-$79m) for roads and other projects deep inside the occupied West Bank that would have “caused an international crisis”
GCHQ chief accuses US tech giants of becoming terrorists ’networks of choice’
▻http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/nov/03/privacy-gchq-spying-robert-hannigan
Privacy has never been “an absolute right”, according to the new director of #GCHQ, who has used his first public intervention since taking over at the helm of Britain’s #surveillance agency to accuse US technology companies of becoming “the command and control networks of choice” [#cybernétique] for terrorists.
Robert Hannigan said a new generation of freely available technology has helped groups like Islamic State (#Isis #OEI) to hide from the security services and accuses major tech firms of being “in denial”, going further than his predecessor in seeking to claim that the leaks of Edward #Snowden have aided terror networks.
GCHQ and sister agencies including MI5 cannot tackle those challenges without greater support from the private sector, “including the largest US technology companies which dominate the web”, Hannigan argued in an opinion piece written for the Financial Times (03/11/2014) just days into his new job.
▻http://cryptome.org/2014/11/gchq-14-1103.pdf
#infoguerre #médias_sociaux Cf. ▻http://seenthis.net/messages/306729
Voir aussi l’édito du Financial Times du 5 novembre 2014 : « It is time to forge a post-Snowden settlement » ▻http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/9658b31a-6417-11e4-8ade-00144feabdc0.html (#paywall)
The terms of that debate should not be hard to define. In democratic states, there must be strong and independent accounting of the way the security services operate. Following Snowden, it is evident that procedures in the US and UK are insufficiently transparent.
That said, US internet companies cannot ignore their responsibilities vis-à-vis national security. These firms do not inhabit some separate planet where they can operate independent of state obligations to defend the public against terrorism. No government can tolerate a situation in which citizens communicate with one another over data networks without any possibility of legitimate surveillance. Mr Hannigan is correct to state that “privacy has never been an absolute right”.
The FT believes the moment has come to redress the balance in the debate over privacy and security. Mr Hannigan’s call for a “new deal” between the intelligence agencies and the tech companies is a good place to start – before another wave of jihadist violence is inflicted on the west.
Réponse du NYT à l’édito du FT :
But the crocodile tears of the intelligence chiefs overlook the fact that before those barriers were put in place, the United States National Security Agency and Mr. Hannigan’s GCHQ misused their powers for an illegal dragnet surveillance operation. The technology companies are doing their job in protecting people’s private data precisely because the intelligence agencies saw fit to rummage through that data.
Mr. Hannigan’s argument overlooks the many legal avenues intelligence agencies have to seek data. Demanding that the technology companies leave “back doors” open to their software or hardware also potentially assists Chinese, Russian and other hackers in accessing reams of data.
A Spy’s Deceptive Complaints (12/11/2014)
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/12/opinion/a-spys-deceptive-complaints.html
« L’Etat islamique est le 1er groupe terroriste dont les membres ont grandi sur Internet » (et ils savent parfaitement utiliser les réseaux pour se promouvoir) - FT
The writer is the director of GCHQ, a UK government intelligence and security organisation
▻http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/c89b6c58-6342-11e4-8a63-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz3I5NFMi6b
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis) is the first terrorist group whose members have grown up on the internet. They are exploiting the power of the web to create a jihadi threat with near-global reach. The challenge to governments and their intelligence agencies is huge – and it can only be met with greater co-operation from technology companies.
Terrorists have long made use of the internet. But Isis’s approach is different in two important areas. Where al-Qaeda and its affiliates saw the internet as a place to disseminate material anonymously or meet in “dark spaces”, Isis has embraced the web as a noisy channel in which to promote itself, intimidate people, and radicalise new recruits.
The extremists of Isis use messaging and social media services such as Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp, and a language their peers understand. The videos they post of themselves attacking towns, firing weapons or detonating explosives have a self-conscious online gaming quality. Their use of the World Cup and Ebola hashtags to insert the Isis message into a wider news feed, and their ability to send 40,000 tweets a day during the advance on Mosul without triggering spam controls, illustrates their ease with new media. There is no need for today’s would-be jihadis to seek out restricted websites with secret passwords: they can follow other young people posting their adventures in Syria as they would anywhere else.
The Isis leadership understands the power this gives them with a new generation. The grotesque videos of beheadings were remarkable not just for their merciless brutality, which we have seen before from al-Qaeda in Iraq, but for what Isis has learnt from that experience. This time the “production values” were high and the videos stopped short of showing the actual beheading. They have realised that too much graphic violence can be counter-productive in their target audience and that by self-censoring they can stay just the right side of the rules of social media sites, capitalising on western freedom of expression.
Isis also differs from its predecessors in the security of its communications. This presents an even greater challenge to agencies such as GCHQ. Terrorists have always found ways of hiding their operations. But today mobile technology and smartphones have increased the options available exponentially. Techniques for encrypting messages or making them anonymous which were once the preserve of the most sophisticated criminals or nation states now come as standard. These are supplemented by freely available programs and apps adding extra layers of security, many of them proudly advertising that they are “Snowden approved”. There is no doubt that young foreign fighters have learnt and benefited from the leaks of the past two years.
GCHQ and its sister agencies, MI5 and the Secret Intelligence Service, cannot tackle these challenges at scale without greater support from the private sector, including the largest US technology companies which dominate the web. I understand why they have an uneasy relationship with governments. They aspire to be neutral conduits of data and to sit outside or above politics. But increasingly their services not only host the material of violent extremism or child exploitation, but are the routes for the facilitation of crime and terrorism. However much they may dislike it, they have become the command-and-control networks of choice for terrorists and criminals, who find their services as transformational as the rest of us. If they are to meet this challenge, it means coming up with better arrangements for facilitating lawful investigation by security and law enforcement agencies than we have now.
For our part, intelligence agencies such as GCHQ need to enter the public debate about privacy. (…)
La coalition veut étendre au web la lutte contre les jihadistes - Libération
▻http://www.liberation.fr/monde/2014/10/27/la-coalition-veut-etendre-au-web-la-lutte-contre-les-jihadistes_1130606