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GCHQ chief: Tech firms 'in denial about online terrorism'

The new director at GCHQ Robert Hannigan has accused internet firms of being "in denial" of the role their networks play in terrorism and demanded they open themselves up more to intelligence services.

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Technology firms 'in denial about online terrorism'

The head of listening agency GCHQ has accused technology companies of being "in denial" about the role their networks and products play in terrorism and criminality.

Internet firms must open up to intelligence agencies, the head of GCHQ said. Credit: Reuters

In a forthright opinion piece for the Financial Times Robert Hannigan said companies must open themselves up to more intelligence services.

GCHQ and its sister agencies, MI5 and the Secret Intelligence Service, cannot tackle these challenges at scale without greater support from the private sector, including the largest US technology companies which dominate the web. I understand why they have an uneasy relationship with governments. They aspire to be neutral conduits of data and to sit outside or above politics. But increasingly their services not only host the material of violent extremism or child exploitation, but are the routes for the facilitation of crime and terrorism.

– Robert Hannigan

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