Google chairman wants to censor the internet for hate speech: ‘Spell check’ for terrorism is needed, says Eric Schmidt

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Technology groups have a duty to combat terrorism using tools such as a hate speech 'spell checker', according to Google chairman, Eric Schmidt.

Schmidt claims a widespread system capable of doing this would 'de-escalate tensions on social media' and 'remove videos before they spread'.

It follows an announcement by the White House that it is engaged in conversations with the technology community about taking 'common sense' measures to prevent terrorism.

Technology groups have a duty to combat terrorism using tools such as a hate speech 'spell-checker', according to Google chairman, Eric Schmidt. Schmidt claims a widespread system capable of doing this would 'de-escalate tensions on social media' and 'remove videos before they spread'

'It's our responsibility to demonstrate that stability and free expression go hand in hand,' wrote Schmidt in an opinion piece for the New York Times.

'We should build tools to help de-escalate tensions on social media - sort of like spell-checkers, but for hate and harassment.'

Schmidt said that technology platforms should target terrorists' social media accounts and take down extremist video content.

The likes of Google, Facebook, and Twitter are already attempting to do this.

However, Schmidt did not give any specific details about his proposed 'spell-checkers' for hate.

'As with all great advances in technology, expanded Web access has also brought with it some serious challenges, like threats to free speech, qualms about surveillance and fears of online terrorist activity,' Mr Schmidt wrote.

The White House said on Monday that it was engaged in conversations with the technology community about taking 'common sense' measures to prevent terrorists from operating freely in cyber space, protected from the threat of government oversight

'For all the good people can do with new tools and new inventions, there are always some who will seek to do harm.

'Ever since there's been fire, there's been arson.'

'Without this type of leadership from government, from citizens, from tech companies, the Internet could become a vehicle for further disaggregation of poorly built societies, and the empowerment of the wrong people, and the wrong voices.'

Quartz points out that people can't agree on the definition of hate speech, so building algorithms to balance that fine line would be difficult.

On Monday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the US government wanted to avoid 'the urge to trample a bunch of civil liberties'.

TECH FIRMS DEFEND ENCRYPTION IN THE WAKE OF THE PARIS ATTACKS 

The attacks in Paris have spurred calls for better ways for investigators to track criminals who rely on encrypted communications

Encryption is a double-edged sword. It can be a terrorist's tool, but it can also be a key for those hunting attackers.

The attacks in Paris have spurred calls for better ways for investigators to track criminals who rely on encrypted communications.

Now technology industry groups are pushing back, arguing that any access to encrypted data will impact on privacy and civil liberties.

It's not yet clear whether the terrorists responsible for the Paris attacks used encrypted networks to communicate.

But officials say technology companies need to help governments bypass the data scrambling that shields everyday commerce and daily digital life.

Encryption backers say it is like any other technology - whether it is a car, telephone or gun - which can be used for good or evil.

They argue that any access to encrypted data will impact on privacy and civil liberties.

They claim encryption helps protect everything from online banking to transportation security systems.

They also say its not yet clear whether the terrorists responsible for the Paris attacks used encrypted networks to communicate.

Any 'back door' allowing authorities to gain access to encrypted data could also be exploited by a hacker, technology groups say.

Laws regulating encryption are likely to be ineffective.

Terrorists will simply switch to non-US software that has more privacy safeguards

But it wants technology companies to work together to combat the terrorist threat.

What it wants companies, particularly those that run social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, to do differently, it could not say.

The president's spokesman contended, 'This is the subject of ongoing conversation among law enforcement professionals, among academics and others, about how to resolve these questions about...free speech rights, about personal privacy, but also about protecting the country.'

In his Sunday evening address to the nation, President Barack Obama said, 'as the internet erases the distance between countries, we see growing efforts by terrorists to poison the minds of people like the Boston Marathon bombers and the San Bernardino killers.'

'I will urge high-tech and law enforcement leaders to make it harder for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice.'

The Obama administration has already backed away from legislation that would create 'back doors' into encrypted technologies that would allow the government to monitor communications.

The Democratic front-runner for president and former Secretary of State to Obama, Hillary Clinton, said in a speech on Sunday that tech companies needed to 'deny online space' to terror groups

Top technology firms have said such loopholes would make their programs vulnerable to hacking.

'After a horrific tragedy like the Paris attacks, we naturally search for solutions: weakening encryption is not a solution,' Information Technology Industry Council President Dean Garfield told Reuters after the deadly assault.

The organization represents Apple, Google, Microsoft and other high-profile tech companies.

An administration official told Reuters on Sunday that the federal government wants to 'want to make sure that encryption is not utilized in a way that allows for a space, a dark space, for terrorist groups to be plotting operations and attacks.'

Asked directly what outcome the president foresees, and if it includes the monitoring of social media sites, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said this afternoon, 'This is a question that technology companies, I think are largely going to have to answer for themselves.'

They will do that in conversation with law enforcement officials and the government's experts, he said.

'Obviously social media sites like Facebook and Twitter recognize that their tools were created in the context of an open society.

And the kind of atmosphere that allowed them to innovate and to create new technologies that have allowed people to test relationships, even if they're divided by time and space, is powerful,' Earnest told reporters.

He said those companies 'have their own interests in not seeing these tools be used to incite or radicalize or call for people to carry out acts of terrorism.'

The official who spoke to Reuters on background was more blunt: Obama wants social media companies to cut off access when a user 'crosses the line' from protected speech 'into active terrorist plotting' 

'Of course they have a responsibility that they obviously believe strongly in which is protecting free speech.'

These are the types of conversations the Obama administration and the technology community 'have been engaged in for some time now,' the White House official said.

The official who spoke to Reuters on background was more blunt: Obama wants social media companies to cut off access when a user 'crosses the line' from protected speech 'into active terrorist plotting.'

'That is a deeply concerning line that we believe has to be addressed. There are cases where we believe that individuals should not have access to social media for that purpose,' the official told Reuters.

The Democratic front-runner for president and former Secretary of State to Obama, Hillary Clinton, said in a speech on Sunday that tech companies needed to 'deny online space' to terror groups.

'They are using websites, social media, chat rooms and other platforms to celebrate beheadings, recruit future terrorists and call for attacks. We should work with host companies to shut them down,' she said.