Jacqui Smith has given her first speech on terrorism to the International Centre for the Study for Radicalisation and Political Violence at Kings College, London. Her emphasis, copying the laws on paedophilia, is to police and ban extremist behaviour on the internet as she asserted that this was the primary channel of recruitment. The drawback of this approach is that the internet is extremely difficult to police and it is unclear that this will be the primary channel of recruitment for extremism, as opposed to imams and other organisations within Britain. If the difficult challenge is not taken up, then a Minister requiring short-term spin to provide a narrative of action, will take up policing the internet as a counter-terrorist measure. Mark Littlewood provides the necessary corrective:
Mark Littlewood, of Progressive Vision, a think tank promoting classical liberalism, said: “The idea that terrorism can be thwarted by seeking to shut down extremist websites is absurd and dangerous.
''It is easy to host such sites outside of British jurisdiction or to relaunch a website that is closed down, literally within minutes.’’
The government has stated that they will treat terrorists as criminals. This is a laudable aim and allows Jacqui Smith a liberal primer, before the real agenda becomes clear: the erosion of civil liberties and judicial checks to ensure that the government can succeed in pretending that there is no war on terror. Will we see the day when paedophiles will be held for 42 days, since there seems to be a utilitarian equivalence between their crimes and terror.