[an error occurred while processing this directive]
BBC News
watch One-Minute World News
Last Updated: Friday, 18 March, 2005, 11:22 GMT
Web to have 'terror watch' team
Computer keyboard
Sharing information about terror suspects could get easier
Five European governments are setting up a hi-tech team to monitor how terrorists and criminals use the net.

The group will make recommendations on shutting down websites that break terrorism laws.

The plans for the initiative came out of a meeting of the G5 interior ministers in Spain that discussed ways to tackle these threats.

The five countries also agreed to make it easier to swap data about terror suspects and thefts of explosives.

The interior ministers of Spain, Britain, France, Germany and Italy - the G5 - met in Granada this week for an anti-terrorism summit.

Easy sharing

To combat terrorism the ministers agreed to make it easier for police forces in their respective states to share data about suspects connected to international terror groups.

Information shared could also involve intelligence about money laundering, the forgery of identity papers, stolen cars, DNA data, missing persons and unidentified corpses.

Part of this anti-terror work will involve the creation of the technical team that will keep an eye on how organised crime groups and terrorists make of the web.

Many criminals have moved many well-known crimes to the web because the returns are so good and the chance of being detected is still relatively low.

The group is also likely to make recommendations on shutting down websites that contravene laws on inciting acts of terror.

Although the meeting of the G5 is informal and any decisions they make are not binding, the summits do tend to set the tone for future policy decisions.

Latest coup for hi-tech crime unit
17 Mar 05 |  Technology
Have hackers recruited your PC?
17 Mar 05 |  Technology
A web wise terror network
06 Oct 04 |  In Depth

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites


Americas Africa Europe Middle East South Asia Asia Pacific