UK To Train Pro-West Islamic Groups To Game Google

Hugh Pickens writes "The British government's Office of Security and Counter-Terrorism (OSCT), a 200-strong Home Office unit created 18 months ago, has said in meetings it wants to 'flood the internet' with 'positive' interpretations of Islam and plans to train government-approved groups in search engine optimization techniques, which it is hoped will boost their profile online and battle radicalization. A Home Office spokesman confirmed search engine optimization training is part of the government's anti-radicalization strategy. 'In order to support mainstream voices, we work with local partners to help develop their communication, representational and leadership skills. This support could include media training, which can help make their voices heard more widely, and support the development of skills which allow communities to be more effective in debate.' However the effectiveness of search engine optimization in reducing traffic to extremist websites has been dismissed by academics. A report produced by the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) said young Muslims were much more likely to be directed to extremist material online by web forums and offline associates than by Google or other search engines. 'Tweaking the results for supposedly extremist terms would be largely ineffectual, not least because it is unlikely that any but the most callow wannabe terrorist would use a mainstream search engine to find banned material.'"

Comments

re-write TFA

[Jalfro]

It looks to me as if the Register has got this one wrong. The original criticisms were of negative tweaks against extremist sites by the government, as the quote they use in their article illustrates. This is about positive tweaking to promote genuine Islamic sites - and it's only, apparently part of a wider strategy of supporting peaceful interpretations of Islam, exactly what the original report recommended.

Re:Imagine

[jmv]

I've been told that in some places in the US, the song gets edited to say "And *one* religion too". Kind of changes the intent a bit, doesn't it.

Re:Imagine

[Anonymous Coward]

In the 20th century, both Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany imagined - and tried to create - societies where there was no religion.

Wrong. Nazi Germany did not. The storm troopers' belt buckles used to say, "Gott mit Uns."

That's propaganda put about by the believers to try to persuade people that atheism leads to totalitarian fascism.

Re:Have they now lost their minds completly ?

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

You make the assumption that these muftis, mullahs and imams, whose power and pay check comes from these immigrant muslim population will stand on the side lines when you develop your trust without betraying them. These leaders of the community fear their flock melting and merging into the larger British (or American) society. You assume they will allow this trust to develop and not nip in the bud.

Please sit down, it might come as a shock to you. Muslims who get educated and understand their rights and don't want to be under the thumb of these muftis, quietly leave. They usually marry non moslems, typically Hindu Indians, give their children neutral non muslim names, and allow them to grow up to be regular subjects of the crown. Who is left behind under the thumb of these muftis and mullahs are those who don't understand their rights, who cant/wont resist oppression. That is why the ocean is salty. Water evaporates and leaves salt behind. That is why the muslim immigrant groups in the West have higher concentration of radicals.

Re:Islam, eh?

[SalaSSin]

Islam is the filthiest and most savage of the bunch

You have /got/ to be kidding, right?

At this moment they *might* be savage, but the lovely christians killed off other peoples (yes, peoples) by the thousands, and some are still doing so today, under the banner of religion.
The Hindu's despise a large chunk of their own people and use them as serfs for the sake of their religion.
The "orthodox" jews in Israel make it a sport to starve out an entire people because their religion tells them it's their chunk of land.
The animist people who listen to shamans in black Africa are hunting down and chopping apart albino blacks because they are thought to have magical properties.

In conclusion, religion is just plain and simple evil disguised in a robe with a funny hat (why do they all need funny hats to make their statement??)

Re:Islam, eh?

[Darkness404]

Um, I don't think you understand Christianity in the least. By "fulfilling the law" basically Jesus was claiming that he was the messiah that was referenced heavily in the law (which refers to the old testament).

For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. Romans 6:14

Shows that Christians are not bound by the Old Testament laws because Jesus fulfilled them. There are several references to where Jesus goes opposes society's norm such as Mark 2:23-28 where Jesus plucked grain on the Sabbath. And another instance where he saved a woman from stoning because of adultery*

Jesus can easily be taken as a good role model, even if you do not believe he is God. Muhammad on the other hand can not. Find me one instance in Jesus' life that would be morally wrong today. And you can find several in the life of Muhammad (pedophilia, etc). It would be hard to argue that Muhammad was a perfect role model for a good life. *This instance was not documented in some of the earliest manuscripts and is a point of debate for theologians to this day