How to spot home-grown ISIS recruits online before they join

[cronus]

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2 ... YLgMvlVhBc

How to spot home-grown ISIS recruits online before they leave

Britain's youngest suicide bomber. That is how the name Talha Asmal was introduced to the public last week. It's believed that Asmal, 17, blew himself up as part of a bombing linked to Islamic State (ISIS) at an Iraqi oil refinery. The attack killed 11 people. Now crime analytics software is being used to track the people being targeted by radical groups like ISIS in an effort to stop them being recruited.

Asmal was from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, and had travelled from the UK to Syria in March to join ISIS. The tally of young people recruited by the terrorist organisation from across Western Europe and the US is growing. More than 20,000 foreign fighters have joined the group, surpassing the Afghanistan conflict of the 1980s.

The race is on to stop people, especially young people, leaving their families to join the jihadi group. Looking at activity online has been suggested as a way of spotting who is intending to join up.

One firm that has developed a way to do this is Wynyard, which makes software for law enforcement and intelligence agencies around the world. It claims its Advanced Crime Analytics software can spot foreign fighters before they flee.

Wynyard demonstrated the software at an event in London earlier this month. It is designed to expose and disrupt connections between foreign fighters, recruiters and those they are targeting, says the company.

It sifts through millions of online, open-source records such as Twitter accounts, blog posts and shared content, and investigators can include data recovered from legally obtained email accounts, phones and computers.

Phrases and names are analysed by an algorithm that processes natural language, which generates a graphical representation of a network of suspected radicalisers and targets. User accounts associated with or sharing extremist material are prioritised.

Intelligence officers are subsequently able to zoom in on any node on the network to examine persons of interest more closely: possible terrorists, recruiters or recruitment targets.

"If you have a particular terrorist or user that has actually radicalised people, you can update the police on a previous set of activities," says Mike O'Keeffe, product director at Wynyard.

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[pErvinalia]

We need to shut down the internet.

[Svartalf]

You want to kill me with loneliness?

[laklak]

We need to open suicide bomber practice ranges. Suicide Bombing 101: The Fragmentation Grenade.

That's the only course offered.

[pErvinalia]

You want to kill me with loneliness?

Go and join IS... You'll never be alone again, and you can have as many sex slaves as you want.

[cronus]

You want to kill me with loneliness?

Go and join IS... You'll never be alone again, and you can have as many sex slaves as you want.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33192306

Cameron warns of 'quietly condoning' IS ideology

Prime Minister David Cameron is expected to warn of the dangers posed by those who "quietly condone" Islamic State militants' extremist ideology.
Speaking at a security conference in the Slovakian capital Bratislava later, he will also stress the importance of tackling radicalisation at its source.

(continued)

[pErvinalia]

Sounds like an almost erudite statement compared to our PM in the last few days. He's accused the Labor party of wanting to "roll out the red carpet for terrorists", because they have been cautious about not yet supporting a proposed plan to give the Immigration Minister sole power to revoke the citizenship of dual nationals suspected of fighting with the terrorists overseas. Labor (and most of the civilised part of our country), want the courts to have that power (or alternatively lock them up under criminal offences). Apparently that makes us pro terrorism, or traitors as some redneck commentators have said. It's fucked in Australia now. We've basically become the same as Merka under Bush II. You are either with us or against us (and with the evil-doers)!

[Svartalf]

You want to kill me with loneliness?

Go and join IS... You'll never be alone again, and you can have as many sex slaves as you want.

I like my pork and booze thank you, being with IS is about as fun as wanting to kill yourself.