back to article Jacqui's jihad on web extremism flops

More than a year after Jacqui Smith gave a major speech on counter terrorism, in which she said she wanted jihadi literature removed from the web, the internet industry has seen scant sign of action from the government. ISPA, the trade association that represents internet providers, told The Register it had received one "very …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Conspiracy?

    Perhaps the government are worried if they deny the extremists the opportunity to communicate via the web then they will be unable to carry out their nefarious schemes & remove an excuse for the said government to continue passing repressive legislation.

  2. Nomen Publicus
    Thumb Down

    What about the old technology?

    As the British library is supposed to receive a copy of every publication, how much jihad material is currently residing on the stacks?

    I seem to recall that the BL is going to try and snapshot UK web sites to add to it's materials. Will those snapshots be bowdlerised to omit nasty stuff?

    It's all very silly

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Surely it being on the web isn't the problem?

    I mean there's the rest of the Internet out there which is far harder to get a hold of- or block. Or couldn't we watch them and then watch closely those who go to those websites- using their own PR efforts as honeytraps?

    Bah, the woman's an idiot. And a dangerous idiot at that.

    Lets come up with a chart of number of lives lost in the UK to Al Quaeda compared with number lost to her government? The government certainly isn't looking too favourable with that graph...

  4. James
    Coat

    She is USELESS

    Yep Wacko Jacko Smith is totally useless, She can give a speech, but when it come to achieving anything nothing happened, it’s been the same in all her cabinet positions.

    WHICH IDIOTS KEEP VOTING FOR HER

    Mines the one with the usb pen in the pocket full of now illegal spanking porn...

  5. Chris Wright
    Unhappy

    mmmmmmmmm

    Idiots are MP's, all of them !

    :sad_face co's there's no yoda =P

  6. Hollerith

    will we take down 'nuke-em-all American websites?

    Those sites that advocate violence against nations and peoples aren't limited to political Jihadists (as opposed to religious jihadi -- the constant struggle to make yourself a better person, according to God's rules). Foaming-at-the-mouth sites advocating the annihilation of, to pick a few examples, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, all Palestinians, all left-wingers, the current American president and Democrat-held House of Congress, Serbians, etc. would all surely figure as Terrorist sites, as they are promoting what Ms Jacqui so strongly condemns?

  7. Jimbo Gunn
    Stop

    Do you actuall WANT web censorhip?

    Chris please don't encourage the dual-dwelling expense-hungry impetuous Miss Smith, the last thing the industry or the country needs is a censorship law.

    http://www.thespoof.com/news/spoof.cfm?headline=s1i33366

    "However one expert did dare to question the Home Secretary's grasp of information technology after her rabid insistence in January that she wants the entire internet censored so that evil websites promoting blogging by civil servants can be stamped out. The expert has since been arrested on suspicion of possessing articles known to be useful to terrorists and will appear before magistrates in camera next week."

  8. david

    Jaqui needs...

    ...a good big thump with a cluestick.

    Or better still go back to being a dinner lady or what ever she was in a previous life.

  9. michael

    the problem

    is the goverment sees the internet like news papers or tv but realy the internet is a bit like a bloke in the pub or your mates hanging out

  10. The Fuzzy Wotnot
    Alert

    Shock! Horror!

    You mean Wacky J came up with something, made a big song and dance about it, like any spoilt brat does to draw attention to themself, but in the end it had no real substance and nothing that anyone with half a brain is remotely interested in?! Well blow me down, what a surprise!

    Perhaps the gov as just spouting crap to distract all those middle England, DM readers from the fact they are slowly screwing this country into the ground! Cynical? No, a realist!

  11. Juillen
    Thumb Down

    More idiocy

    Once again, it was a case of standing on the shore, telling the tide not to come in.

    Block a site, it'll only appear under another name, in another place, outside any British jurisdiction.

    Of course, every time it vanishes to reappear, it takes the security agencies time to find it again, wasting valuable time and money. Why waste that time when you can just work out who's going there, and use that to trace the people you really want to keep an eye on?

  12. Snake Plissken

    Business as usual

    Government minister publicly announces intention to do something, then does nothing of the sort.

    About par for the course for this lot. But it gets them some cheap headlines, so job done for Jacqui. I think one of the MPs pointed out to Supreme Leader Brown yesterday that an average of three initiatives a day had been announced to fight the credit crunch.

    Now, where was that Monbiot article on the Guardian site taking the piss of Blears... that and the comments was a good read.

  13. Evil Auditor Silver badge

    Re What about the old technology?

    "I seem to recall that the BL is going to try and snapshot UK web sites to add to it's materials." Will this include the Reg's comments section? I hope not.

    Anyway, Taliban using jesus phone - what's next?!

    EA

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    but

    but nobody promotes terrorism quite like the British government and its allies. Don't be bad *neeaaaawwww BOOM 200 dead Afghans*

    "Hey but we killed one or two terrorists, I mean they had to be terrorists, they were brown and male!"

    "Can't make an omlette without breaking a few eggs."

    "You kill one whitey and we'll kill 1000 brownies!" Is the motto of the west. It's a pretty good recruiting add for terrorists.

    For better or for worse.

  15. carbonrough
    Paris Hilton

    What she really needs....

    ....is a good auld sweaty swing fae the chandeliers kinda shag !!

    .... Paris, cause she knows how.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    For f*ck's sake!

    So, the long and short of it: Wacqui Jacqui thunders on about removing terrorist material from the web. Home office have a bit of a chat with the industry. Producers of filtering products give their software a bit of a tweak. Nobody but schools buy filtering software. Wacqui and Home Office claim to be succeeding, when really they've done sod all about it.

    Wacqui Jacqui, what a complete and utter waste of f*king oxygen.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Re: She is USELESS

    "WHICH IDIOTS KEEP VOTING FOR HER"

    The good people of Redditch, I think you'll find.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Black Helicopters

    solution

    the only really solution to the "internet problem" is for each country to take control on what enters its routers. Just like they do with port and land entry.

    The government will have to force each ISP to install government controlled routers and allow government staff to control those routers. Any traffic exiting/entering the country will be monitored and checked for compliance before it is allowed to proceed. Offenders will be dealt with by the law.

    I am not trying to flam nor am I following the conspiracy theory approach. This is really what will ultimately happen. The internet is *too* free and many taxes are being avoided by digital goods/piracy. The only solution to this problem is the apply the physical world policies to the digital one. Anything passing through the digital boarders must be checked and taxed.

    Like it or not, that is going to be the internet in few years..... WORLD WIDE

  19. Colin Millar
    Coat

    @ michael

    '...your mates hanging out...'

    Ooh er missus - that'll be illegal soon

  20. Seán

    What happened to Labour

    When did the left wing liberal commie labour party become more fascist than the Torys? Banning MP's from Holland in case they said anything of an adult nature to the Lords (a delicate bunch to be sure), cleaning the internet of rudeness. Handing out ASBOs to shouting children.

    Is it because people now phone 999 if someone throws a snowball, or is it something about being in charge instead of opposition, or are they just a bunch of arseholes?

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I hope she's refused entry to EU countries

    She refused entry to a dutch MP, for all the talk he's not particularly extreme, never called for any terrorist act, and discussing his view with the Lords would not incite them to terrorism.

    She knows she's in the wrong too. She pretending he was refused using EU law. This is a lie, EU law says she cannot refuse free travel to EU citizens EXCEPT in very extreme cases.

    So I hope they do the honourable thing, and whenever her or her family travel to Europe, they politely take her to one side and arrange for the return flight back 'home'.*

    Because Europe has no place for the kind of person that cannot hear a dissenting view.

    * Or indeed held at the border for 8 hours like is common at the UK border now. It would be nice if Jacqui was held in a cell with a CCTV pointed at her for 8 hours, nobody talking to her, no questions, just held. And the CCTV footage, it would be nice to see that on YouTube.

    Perhaps she's see what a bitch she has become if people treat her the way she treats others.

  22. Richard

    I want, I want, I want

    "Where there is illegal material on the net, I want it removed" She said

    Well I want to stick a porcupine up her ass and wiggle it about, but that's not going to happen is it

    Someone please sack that stupid bint

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    MI6

    Bet you a pound that 6 dissauaded the mad old bat from persuing this. After all, 90% of "Jihadist" websites are CIA/MI6 honeytraps for 15 year old kids from Bradford.

  24. Dave
    Coat

    @AC but

    We have God on our side!

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Publicity

    Some people believe that our current government has a tendency to think that stating an intention to do something is the same as actually doing it. This belief may seem somewhat cynical, but observation shows it to have some merit.

    My opnion is even more cynical. It seems to be standard practice in the cabinet to make a big announcement with no intention of following it up. The idea presumably being that the public will be happy that the government is doing something to deal with the issue under discussion. Surely they must have realized by now that the public have lost faith in the government to such an extent that they don't believe a single promise a minister makes.

  26. Norfolk Enchants Paris

    @carbonrough

    Yeah well rather you than me mate.

  27. Humph
    Stop

    Typical New Labour Nonsense

    Making content-free speeches, demand that Something Must Be Done, then quietly do fuck all about it while simultaneously claiming Victory.

    I'm mildly surprised the stupid bitch didn't come up with another piece of poorly thought through legislation to curtail our civil liberties yet again.

  28. Mike Smith
    Happy

    She's not useless - she's downright dangerous

    >>"WHICH IDIOTS KEEP VOTING FOR HER"

    >The good people of Redditch, I think you'll find.

    Not all of them - only 18,012 out of a total of 63,150.

    She had a majority at the last election of just 2,716. Not exactly a safe seat. If the current opinion polls are anything to go by, she'll be out by next May at the latest.

    So, good voters of Redditch, vote for anyone other than The Witch next time. 22, 859 of you couldn't be arsed in 2005 . It will only take slightly over a tenth of you to rid us of this power-mad harpy for a very long time.

    There is hope, comrades!

  29. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @I hope she's refused entry to EU countries

    Damn I hope she goes to Pakistan one day to learn from their techniques, they arrest her at the border and she gets an extraordinary rendition tour of prison hells across the world, preferably with that other lying t--- Miliband, for 6 years then starve that cow to near death and after she's admited to a list of made up crimes let em go and see how well they're doing then.

  30. Colin Millar
    Boffin

    Lack of imagination

    Get MI6 to set up more of these sites with instructions on how to make bombs and other exploding things - and get the instructions slightly wrong - its what the intertubes does best.

    examples for the new wikiterripedia

    "After cleaning your AK47, insert a magazine, flick the safety off, look down the barrel and very gently squeeze the trigger until you see the first round click into the chamber"

    "Now that you have completed your IED attach the mobile phone detonator and test by caling it from your second iPhone - this is perfectly safe as long as you first divert calls to voicemail"

  31. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Richard

    What's her donkey done to you?

  32. Steve
    Paris Hilton

    Wacqui Jacqui

    When will she learn, the Internet isn't as simple as she thinks...

    Paris? Well, even she could understand what's going on...

  33. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I want, I want, I want

    More pies. Yummm.

    You know things must be bad when the Graun turns on its own.

  34. Mike Bell
    Unhappy

    @Seán

    "Is it because people now phone 999 if someone throws a snowball, or is it something about being in charge instead of opposition, or are they just a bunch of arseholes?"

    Arseholes. Definitely.

  35. Inachu
    IT Angle

    I want a Jihad against these crazy women

    First we have outsourcing then 5S and now we have Jacqui.

  36. ben

    Gary. Or should I say, Hakmed

    I was just a boy when the infidels came into my village in their Black Hawk helicopters. The infidels fired at the oil fields and they lit up like the eyes of Allah. Burning oil rained down from the sky and cooked everything it touched. I could only hide myself and cry as my goats were consumed by the fire of black liquid death. In the midst of the chaos, I could swear that I heard my goats... screaming for help. As quickly as they'd come the infidels were gone. It was on that day... I put a jihad on them. And if you don't believe it, then you'd better kill me now, because I'll put a jihad on you too.

  37. Adam Buckland

    Simple Jacqui

    And then ban every proxy server, every news agency etc.. in fact why not just do a list of approved sites

  38. N

    Perhaps

    The £116K expenses was entirely justified for mobile data bandwidth to her laptop?

  39. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    In defence of stupidity.

    "The Home Secretary has made it clear that unlawful material should be removed from the internet......."

    Dear Home Secretary

    I hope you will not be deflected from your ambitious plan to purify the internet by the usual tsunami of derision that emanates from websites such as The Register. Please be assured that you have the full support of the law abiding majority of people in this country whose only crime seems to be that, like yourself, they have a preference for reading the Daily Mail.

    Many of us remember the bad old days when our in-boxes were flooded by spam messages urging us to purchase dubious products and leading us to websites where our PCs would be infected with malware. Happily these days are over and thanks to your intervention we no longer have to be concerned about criminals stealing our identity, our bank details or our personal data. We are further reassured by your endorsement of Phorm and the saintly Mr Kent Ertugrul whose elevation to the peerage can surely only be a matter of time.

    Yours Sincerely

    Bill and Ben

  40. richard
    Stop

    bored? look at this on ebay:

    item no: 270341270300

  41. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Publicity

    "Some people believe that our current government has a tendency to think that stating an intention to do something is the same as actually doing it."

    In the case of the Dutch MP she banned, it's not even as good as that, the Dutch MP ALREADY came to the UK, he had already spoken to the House of Lords, this was his SECOND visit.

    She is claiming that she *THINKS* that his intended visit would incite violence, yet he already visited and it did not.

    But since she only needs to say she *thinks* something, she is not forced to prove it or show any kind of coherent thought patterns to justify it. It says more about her mental problems than anything else.

    What a disaster that woman is. If you were a company and wanted to set up in Europe, would you, even for an instance consider the UK with this stuff going on?

  42. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    hmmm

    I would say somthing rude about her, but my missis has met her and assured me she is a nice person.

    FFS. Ms. Smith is a danger to us all.

  43. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Thief!!!

    Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, has admitted claiming tax payer-funded accommodation allowances while staying as a lodger at her sister's home.

    Thief!!! She should go to prison!!!!!

  44. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    @Colin Millar

    ""After cleaning your AK47, insert a magazine, flick the safety off, look down the barrel and very gently squeeze the trigger until you see the first round click into the chamber""

    And wonder why nothing happens as you havent cocked the weapon first.

    Plus an AK is a long weapon, not easy to look down the barrel and squeeze the trigger at the same time unless your inspector gadget.

    Paris, she knows it needs to be cocked before it goes off!

  45. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Miss Piggy

    is just universally despised, isn't it?.

    Orwell's Animal Farm has come into being :

    T B : Snowball (was a conservative at school)

    G B : Napoleon

    W J : Squealer a.k.a Miss Piggy a.k.a small fat porker

    Hardly any citizens are scared of the big bad terrorists, the only people who get on their little soapbox about it all are the ones who stand to gain financially out of it, and that tax payers' pork barrel is rapidly running dry.

    Expect to see a U-Turn when there is no tax money to keep paying for these depression creating anti-terrorist tactics. It will all be, the only thing to fear is fear itself, and we should all band together and pull the country through, well guess what they have created so much division in the UK that it is going to be nigh on impossible.

  46. Tawakalna

    "When did the left wing liberal commie labour party become more fascist than the Torys?"

    the day that the Rt Hon Anthony B. Liar became leader of the Labour Party, that's when.

  47. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    @AC 14:00

    I hope she's thrown in jail for printing extreme pr0n on fag packets.

  48. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Guardian article

    Snake Plissken asks "Now, where was that Monbiot article on the site taking the piss of Blears... that and the comments was a good read" ...

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/feb/10/hazel-blears-george-monbiot

  49. RW
    Thumb Down

    Wakki Jakki

    el-Reg readers with memories may recall my taking a vow of silence on the subject of She Who Must Be Obeyed (and I'm not referring to Sarah Bee, who qualifies in her own right on different, and far more pleasant, grounds).

    But Dear Leaderess Smith's antics impel me to once again address the question, what on earth is wrong with that woman?

    On that subject, two remarks:

    1. Jacqui Smith is clearly a very stupid person. More and more her behavior is explained as that of a former school teacher who is in over her head but doesn't know it. The woman has not a trace of intellectual acuity, nor any ability to draw a connected line from actions to consequences. The silly, downright trivial initiatives she so often substitutes for substantive action remind me of nothing so much as a not-very-good school teacher trying to control an unruly class with alternating threats and bribes.

    2. (And at this point I pray for forgiveness from our Divine Moderatrix) A retired math professor of my acquaintance once described a woman we both knew and weren't entirely fond of in these words: "If my husband Jack were still alive, he'd say she needs a good screwing in the backseat of an old Oldsmobile." Coming from the mouth of a pleasant gray-haired old lady, the comment carried considerable force. I really can't help but think that maybe it applies to the Maximum Leaderess as well. Whatever's wrong with her, whatever causes her to display an utter lack of empathy, it has to be something fairly profound.

    If Ms. Smith is reading, think about the fact that your evil reputation has spread worldwide. Something to be proud of, eh?

  50. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Wacky Jacky

    I would love to gather up all the negative remarks about Wacky Jacky, print them off and send them to her at the House of Commons.

    But, I dare not, because I'm sure she will check the postmark on the letter and then employ the services at her disposal to track me down and find some weird obsecure law to prosecute me under.

    Any news article where Wacky Jacky's name is mentioned now is begining to create in me an automatic aversion. Please someone just get rid of her.

  51. Jonathan McColl
    Unhappy

    My, we are upset

    There are some value-laden terms in these comment-columns describing Ms Smith: 'wacky', 'bitch, 'stupid', 'witch', 'evil' for example, and I feel these would hurt her feelings about being appreciated were she ever to hear about El Reg as being more than an online IT-related news organ.

    We should remember that she's a politician with a temporary job to do, as ordered by her leader and colleagues to join in the collective responsibility, and is there to sell what her civil service mandarins have always wanted and cannot talk to the world about.

  52. Paul Gomme

    Once again - the link is here...

    I've had enough of this.

    No, I'm not scared, but I am nervous. I've been taking a stand against this stuff for several years now, and if you want to, now is the time to act.

    I have set up a Facebook group - "How mad is Wacky Jacqui?"

    http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=46271966027

    You don't have to join it. You don't have to flame it, either. But please look at what's been happening in this country, and make a considered decision. Some of my best friends haven't joined it because they fear it could attract attention to themselves.

    I'll be at the "photo shooting" event in London on Monday 16th February 2009. Some people have said that making a protest on Facebook doesn't achieve anything, and that you should "march" to make your voice heard. Well, go for it...

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/feb/09/liberty-central-stop-and-search-police

    This is about a single issue, but ultimately, all these issues terminate at a single one: Our Civil Liberties.

    If you are going, print the above card.

    I guess this post will be moderated - and if you're there, Sarah Bee, I'm the 5' 6" nerd with the short hair, long coat, glasses, and an attitude on YOUR side...

  53. tardigrade
    Black Helicopters

    Second attempt.

    I tried to comment on the original story last year, but didn't make it. I assume the comment was a little robust at the time for the Moderatorix. So here's another go.The gist is still the same though.

    Q. Does this woman have no advisor's? Or does she reside in a hermetically sealed bubble of her own self-importance, impervious to any semblance of reason?

    Because it surely cannot be possible that others within the Labour party and indeed her own office can't see that damage and outright mentalistness that she is inflicting upon both the Labour party and this country. Why has she not been dropped by Chairman Brown?

    The answer to these questions though, is even more exasperating. She hasn't been dropped because she is the best person for the job. Which means that everyone else in the Labour party is certifiable.

    She doesn't have to listen to her advisor's, because they are so far gone that they actually agree with her.

    She's only calling the shots that are approved by President Brown.

    In short her supreme Wackyness is a microcosm of the unbridled insanity of the current Government and what's worse is that, quite clearly those that hold her reigns are allowing her to be the vocal and focal point of their ill conceived plans for a purpose. Should the time come she is the blindingly obvious candidate for party sacrificial lamb.

    She can be thrown to the wolves before the next election in the hope that the sheep will believe that the badness has been purged. Then another Stalinist nut-**** can be wheeled in to restart the madness again after the election.

    Don't believe me? Just look at the history of the last four Labour Home Office ministers.

  54. This post has been deleted by its author

  55. Anonymous Coward
    Black Helicopters

    Jacqui is perfect ...

    This woman has demonstrated the art of Zen in practise. She has achieved the state of perfectness - that quality where she has attained the highest purest state of being a complete incompetent. To see such perfection is a very rare thing. We will be telling of this harridan to our children and their children's children.

    I expect we have our own black helicopters to worry about in Blighty

  56. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    '...material that "glorifies terrorism"'

    You mean Counterstrike?

  57. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Second attempt.

    "I tried to comment on the original story last year, but didn't make it. I assume the comment was a little robust at the time for the Moderatorix."

    If elReg was an Island in the north sea, SB would be turning comments back at the border! I don't agree with SB's heavy hand myself. But there are other forums for such discussions, I usually go there.

    "She's only calling the shots that are approved by President Brown."

    I don't believe that is the problem, I think Jacquis calling her own shots, but the trouble with Brown is he has few supporters, and the women he surrounds himself with are not alpha's, i.e. they do not rise to challenge his leadership. So the team dynamic there is a bunch of wimps who aren't a threat to Brown, regardless of their various competences and no matter how bad he is.

    It's a pity, there was so much hope of a new direction when Brown took over in 2006, but it just got worse and worse. He kept the Blairites in power to stop them challenging him, and because he's much weaker, they went ULTRA-nanny on us. Trying to fix minor social ills with prison time and evictions and exclusion zones and snooping invasive monitoring and fingerprinting six year olds. The absolute worst possible outcome of the change of leadership. But there doesn't seem to be a leader in NuLabour strong enough to evict that idiot from power so the electorate has to do it.

  58. Pyrrho Huxley

    What happened to Labour

    @ Seán You ask "when did the left wing liberal commie labour party become more fascist than the Torys?"

    It's because they're former Stalinists (I call them petty Stalinists), and a basic component of Stalinism is that the government owns the people. This idea that the people belong to the ruler goes back a long way in Russian history. The Bolsheviks picked it when they came to power (in 1917), and their followers and fellow travellers have made use use of it ever since.

  59. fajensen
    Jobs Horns

    Pass the bag!

    <i>But there doesn't seem to be a leader in NuLabour strong enough to evict that idiot from power so the electorate has to do it.</i>

    Who would *want* to evict Gordon Brown? If I was an emerging leader within labour I would rather be busy encouraging the fool so all the blame for the last 15 years can be assigned to him, including losing the election, the opposition gets to clean up the mess and I could use the time out of government to redefine myself as a "new beginning ... " ;-)

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