Intelligent CIO Europe Issue 08 | Page 19

Belgium contributes to tackling terrorist propaganda with Europol Oracle improves De Lijn buses and trams service in Belgium O n July 9 and 10 2018, Europol’s Internet Referral Unit (EU IRU) organised the 10th joint Referral Action Days with colleagues from specialised units from Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. This time, the campaign was focused on different platforms belonging to Google and was attended by representatives of the company. This coordinated action against online terrorist propaganda focused mainly on the production of terrorist materials produced by the so-called ‘Islamic State’ and ‘al-Qaeda’ and their sympathisers. Among the items referred were propaganda videos and social media accounts glorifying or supporting terrorism and violent extremism. Since the creation of the EU IRU, Europol has enjoyed excellent cooperation with Google in tackling terrorism online. The event was an opportunity for all parties to review the kind of content that terrorist groups attempt to disseminate online and further improve the referral process with the common aim of ensuring that material glorifying terrorism would be removed from the Internet as soon as possible. As concluded by the Google representatives: “We found the action days productive and useful; good progress was made in how we continue to work together.” Referrals of terrorist content detected by the law enforcement specialists were swiftly reviewed by respective platforms. It is however, important to emphasise that the final removal of the referred material is a voluntary activity by the platforms, taking into consideration their own terms and conditions. During the Referral Action Days, Europol promotes a coordinated approach to fighting terrorist propaganda online. Similar joint action, involving EU Member States and online industry partners, will continue to be organised on a regular basis. www.intelligentcio.com U sers of buses and trams in Belgium can look forward to a transport system supported by a faster, more reliable and flexible IT backbone following the selection of Oracle to implement its latest Exadata cloud technology to support the 500 million journeys on De Lijn’s network each year. In selecting Oracle Exadata technology to run Oracle databases, De Lijn is taking advantage of the most optimal way to run its IT systems. By migrating to a private cloud model, the company is able to benefit from a flexible pricing model and can be reassured that it is always running on the latest technology, secured and managed 24/7 by Oracle. The new operating environment will also streamline and provide transparency into licenses so that De Lijn optimises its technology investment. Due to the integrated nature of Oracle technology, it has been possible to migrate the first set of databases in only a matter of weeks, without any disruption of service. “The Oracle Exadata solution will help us improve the way we engage with passengers and manage the buses and trams,” said Lode Schrauwen, Head of Infrastructure at De Lijn. “Moreover, the migration to cloud provides De Lijn with access to latest technology and with a better business model to get insight in licenses we were looking for.” “As ticketing and dispatch systems become digitised, passengers expect De Lijn to run a system that is both robust and rapid,” said Jan Wauters, Sales Director Systems at Oracle Belgium. INTELLIGENTCIO 19