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Should We Regulate The Internet To Prevent Terror?

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With guest host Anthony Brooks.

Theresa May says the internet must be regulated following the London Bridge attack.  So, how do you regulate cyberspace and should we?

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May makes a statement in Downing Street, London, after chairing a meeting of the Government's emergency Cobra committee following Saturday night's terrorist incident in London. Several people were killed in the terror attack at the heart of London and dozens injured. The prime minister called for a tougher stance at home against extremists. (Andrew Matthews/PA via AP)
Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May makes a statement in Downing Street, London, after chairing a meeting of the Government's emergency Cobra committee following Saturday night's terrorist incident in London. Several people were killed in the terror attack at the heart of London and dozens injured. The prime minister called for a tougher stance at home against extremists. (Andrew Matthews/PA via AP)

Following the deadly rampage in London this weekend – the third terrorist attack in Britain in three months, British Prime Minister Theresa May declared “enough is enough.” Among her prescriptions: a call to democratic governments to regulate cyberspace and deny terrorists “the safe space” in which they recruit and plan. But how exactly would that work? And what price would an open society ultimately pay? This hour On Point: blaming the internet in the age of terror. -- Anthony Brooks

Guests

Mia Bloom, professor of communication at Georgia State University and author of “Dying to Kill: The Allure of Suicide Terror." (@MiaMBloom)

Charles Arthur, contributing writer and former technology editor for the Guardian. (@charlesarthur)

From The Reading List

Independent: Theresa May says the internet must now be regulated following London Bridge terror attack — "New international agreements should be introduced to regulate the internet in the light of the London Bridge terror attack, Theresa May has said. The Prime Minister said introducing new rules for cyberspace would “deprive the extremists of their safe spaces online” and that technology firms were not currently doing enough.

Guardian: ‘Blame the internet’ is just not a good enough response, Theresa May — "The problem is this: things can be done, but they open a Pandora’s box. The British government could insist that the identities of people who search for certain terror-related words on Google or YouTube or Facebook be handed over. But then what’s to stop the Turkish government, or embassy, demanding the same about Kurdish people searching on 'dangerous' topics? The home secretary, Amber Rudd, could insist that WhatsApp hand over the names and details of every communicant with a phone number. But then what happens in Iran or Saudi Arabia? What’s the calculus of our freedom against others?"

TIME: Read Prime Minister Theresa May's Full Speech on the London Bridge Attack — "Second, we cannot allow this ideology the safe space it needs to breed. Yet that is precisely what the internet, and the big companies that provide internet-based services provide. We need to work with allied democratic governments to reach international agreements that regulate cyberspace to prevent the spread of extremist and terrorism planning. And we need to do everything we can at home to reduce the risks of extremism online."

This program aired on June 5, 2017.

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