Kalam for internet usage to combat terrorism

Chennai, Jan 5: President A P J Abdul Kalam today said Police should regularly browse and monitor the internet for indications on pre-formation activities of terrorist groups, their origins and their supporters.

Delivering the valedictory address at the 150th celebrations of Chennai Police here, he said ''An intelligent mining of the data coming out in many newspapers, websites and so on, can give police ample information about possible groups, their intentions and their connectivities.'' Stating that one of the major revolutions of information had been the advent of the World Wide Web, the President said it contained a vast amount of information about people, corporate and nations.

''In the scene of terrorism, our nation's capabilities - such as communication, rail and business infrastructure have become exposed and vulnerable. In this scenario, the intelligence agencies and the police should take an integrated approach,'' he suggested.

The people, who threatened our security and our peace, often could intermix with our public and might become indistinguishable particularly in the cities like Chennai.

''They use very high-end technologies, much the same way as any common public could use. When the attacker is distributed within the system, things become extremely difficult to detect and arrest,'' he warned.

Innovative flow charts had to be evolved with experience to find how this phenomenon was taking place and how the intelligence agencies could match. The city police had to be graduated to the reality that crimes were not the handiwork of ordinary people but of those who were in possession of modern gadgets and good training, the President said.

The President said economic prosperity from now to 2020 meant many of the Indians would be doing business in the digital world on the web. In this new era, the police community must formulate progressive and innovative crime detection systems to deal with cyber crimes, he added. ''Cyber crime being technology driven, it needs unique training system for detection and prevention. I appreciate the Chennai Police has already formed a Cyber Cell. Women police personnel are the most suited for prevention of such crimes,'' he said.

Expressing concern over crime and violence against women, the President said women generally felt that they were not safe in certain localities in certain states.

Kidnapping, abduction and extortion had become common and the problem of alienation had led to terrorism and naxalism had spread to many states.

''Several methods are found by individuals and groups to create large- scale scams and frauds in different parts of the country. Even educational institutions and medical institutions are not spared,'' he said.

UNI