Clean IT

The Clean IT Project is an online project initiated by the European Union, aiming to reduce or discourage online terrorism and further illegal activities via the internet. They aim to create a document that commits the internet industry to help governments discover content that incites acts of terrorism. The main facilitators that undertook this project were the Netherlands, Germany, United Kingdom, Belgium, and Spain. There are many more supporting EU members such as Hungary, Romania, and recently, Italy, but the main countries that have started the project are the 5 listed above.

As stated on the project website, the objectives of the Clean IT Project include:

Before the Internet was created, the transmittance of information between mediums was limited by distance. However, since modernization and constant development of this resource, we are now able to communicate with people across the world by a means of a couple clicks and keystrokes. While we have seen many benefits through the creation of the Internet, this extension of freedom has also led to many setbacks, which the Clean IT project strives to solve. Clean IT is particularly concerned with possible terrorist attacks. The ease of accessibility to reach individuals and corporations, harness large amounts of information, and manipulate systems can all be derived from this common source, and for these key reasons, Europe has made large strides in making their vision of clean Internet technology a reality.

This project was drafted through an open dialogue between the private corporations and government agencies which started in June 2011 and had concluded in March 2013. This process involved 6 meetings in Amsterdam, Madrid, Brussels, Berlin, Utrecht, and Vienna, where a project team facilitated the conversation for Clean IT. This dialogue involved over 110 participants: representatives from both the government and private corporations as well as experts and academics in the related fields. Once a revision had been made on the document after every meeting, the document was released to the general public in order to consider their opinion as well. The final version of the document was released on 21 January 2013, which included a detailed analysis of online terrorist activities and nine general guidelines that suggest the best practices or ways to reduce online terrorism.

On their website they state that their goal is to "To start a constructive public-private dialogue about terrorist use of the Internet". To further elaborate, the Clean IT project has created a set of guidelines that would be supported by public and private parties, a code of conduct on how to deal with possible terrorist attacks online. The solution, they state, is made on a case by case basis with one basic principle that has upset many, "Any action taken to reduce the terrorist use of the Internet must comply with national and European laws and regulations, and respect fundamental rights and freedoms, including access to the Internet, freedoms of assembly and expression, privacy and data protection".

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