The U.S. government is in a push-pull relationship with the tech industry when it comes to dealing with terrorist threats. That issue has divided the administration, with the tech and economic policy agencies supporting the use of widespread encryption and law enforcement and national security agencies concerned that such a trend is aiding terrorists and criminals. While it appeared the government wants the companies to send their top executives, there were indications some were still deciding late Thursday who to send, and it couldn’t be learned Thursday if any CEOs will be attending. The White House has not confirmed the meeting, but sources told The Guardian the summit will take place at 11 a.m. PT in San Jose, California.
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After the San Bernardino shooting last month, President Barack Obama had asked tech leaders to make it harder for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice. Also part of the agenda will discuss how terrorists use the Internet to recruit people to radicalism and consequently plan their attacks. The attendees from the tech firms, according to the Journal report, are unconfirmed but will likely consist of top executives from prominent social media companies.
Some of those goals may lead to thorny discussions. Twitter, on the other hand, revised its abuse policy previous year to remove tweets that are “threatening or promoting terrorism”.
But the companies have resisted some requests by law-enforcement leaders to take action, making it clear they are very wary of being seen to be helping the government spy on their customers.
The encryption issue is also on the agenda, but is not a main focus, officials said.
Confronting the Islamic State on the Internet has raised hard questions for USA policymakers about how to balance counterterrorism against privacy, civil liberties and the hands-off tradition that has fueled the Internet’s growth.
Officials such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation director have decried the use by the group of social media, videos and communications that are encrypted to expand their ranks and to plan further attacks inside the US and across Western Europe.
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The meeting, first reported by Reuters, will put even more pressure on technology companies to crack down on ISIS’ social media recruiting and propaganda.
