Reference Library

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The Internet is a distinctively global medium. It has the potential to bring communities together, ensure equal access to information, and empower populations; yet at the same time it provides a platform for mal-doers to advance their criminal goals and engage in and organize terrorist acts. In the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, adopted in September 2006, Member States pledged to “coordinate efforts at the international and regional level to counter terrorism in all its forms and manifestations on the Internet” and to “use the Internet as a tool for countering the spread of terrorism, while recognizing that States may require assistance in this regard”, and with the requirement that they do so “with due regard to confidentiality, respecting human rights and in compliance with other obligations under international law”. This Report was drafted by the Working Group on Countering the Use of the Internet for Terrorist Purposes which is one of the nine Working Groups of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF), which aims to provide a common, coherent and focused counter-terrorism framework for entities of the United Nations system.