:: Deepquest ::

British chief police officers are asking the U.K. government for new powers that would allow them to attack terrorist Web sites.

A list of antiterror recommendations from the Association of Chief Police Officers has been handed to Members of Parliament in the wake of the London bombings this month, as the government reviews laws on how to tackle terrorism.

Under the proposals, it would become an offense to fail to disclose encryption keys and to use the Internet to facilitate acts of terrorism.

In a press statement last week, Ken Jones, chairman of the ACPO Terrorism and Allied Matters Committee, said: “(The) evolving nature of the current threat from international terrorism demands that those charged with countering the threat have the tools they need to do the job. Often there is a need to intervene and disrupt at an early stage those who are intent on terrorist activity in order to protect the public. Clearly our legislation must reflect the importance of such disruptive action.”

The list of recommendations does not detail how police would attack Web sites, but in many cases remotely disabling a Web server involves a denial-of-service attack, in which floods of data are sent to the server to overwhelm it.

The organization said that the measure would help police stop the spread of child abuse images on the Web. “This power has significant benefits for counter terrorism and overlaps with other police priorities namely domestic extremism and paedophilia,” ACPO said in its proposals. “This issue goes beyond national borders and requires significant international co-operation. The need for appropriate authority and warranty is implicit.”

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