asked Her Majesty's Government:
What systems they have in place for identifying websites that distribute Islamic extremist material; and what resources and personnel they have devoted to this task. [HL4195]
The PREVENT element of the Government's CONTEST strategy recognises the important role that extremist websites play in the radicalisation process. The identification and monitoring of such sites is part of our overall PREVENT delivery plan. It would not be in the interest of national security to provide specific detail of the resources and personnel devoted to this task.
asked Her Majesty's Government:
What assessment they have made of the contribution of online libraries containing Islamic extremist material to the radicalisation of British Muslims. [HL4199]
The Government are concerned about the presence of violent extremist and terrorist material on online libraries in the same way as they are concerned about all forms of terrorist and violent extremist material on the internet.
Section 3 of the Terrorism Act 2006 allows for the service of a notice by a constable where he or she is of the opinion that unlawfully terrorism-related material is available on an electronic service such as a website, on the person(s) responsible for that material. The notice requires that the unlawfully terrorism-related material is removed or modified within two working days. To date, no Section 3 notices have been issued, as the preferred route for removing such material from the internet is informal contact between the police and the ISP and this has so far always been effective.
asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether internet service providers are accountable for hosting websites with content that promotes terrorism; and if so, how. [HL4200]
Internet service providers are not responsible for monitoring the content that they host. However if they are found to be hosting material that encourages terrorism they can be asked to remove it, either informally by the police or formally through the issue of a notice under Section 3 of the Terrorism Act 2006.
Section 3 of the Terrorism Act 2006 allows for the service of a notice by a constable where he or she is of the opinion that unlawfully terrorism-related material is available on an electronic service such as a website, on the person(s) responsible for that material. The notice requires that the unlawfully terrorism-related material is removed or modified within two working days. To date, no Section 3 notices have been issued, as the preferred route for removing such material from the internet is informal contact between the police and the ISP and this has so far always been effective.
asked Her Majesty's Government:
What assessment they have made of the effectiveness of requiring internet service providers to block websites with extremist content in reducing Islamic extremism. [HL4201]
Section 3 of the Terrorism Act 2006 provides an effective mechanism for the removal of unlawfully terrorism-related material from the internet when it is hosted in the UK. It is more difficult to remove material that is hosted overseas and we are currently at the initial stages of exploring whether asking ISPs to block access to such material would be an effective option for restricting the availability of such material in the UK.