Glossary
- Anti-social behaviour
- Animal rights extremism (ARE)
- Domestic extremism (DE)
- Denial of service attack (DoS)
- E-crime
- 'Extreme campaign'
- Hacking
- Harassment
- 'Home visits'
- 'Lock on'
- 'Mobile demo' - mobile demonstrations
- 'Phishing'
- Post-conviction ASBOs (anti-social behaviour orders)
- Secondary targeting
- Tertiary targeting
- Vulnerability
Anti-social behaviour
Anti-social behaviour is defined in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 defines as:
'acting in a manner that caused or was likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more persons not of the same household as the complainant.'
ASBOs are used to tackle behaviour that is likely to escalate to the criminal level and cumulatively cause alarm or distress to a community.
See 'post-conviction ASBOs'.
TOPˆAnimal rights extremism (ARE)
Animal rights extremists want animal research to stop and seek to force change through criminal actions.
Animal rights extremism is defined as:
- Any unlawful or, if not actually unlawful, recognisably anti-social act,
- motivated by an intention to disrupt lawful business or to intimidate,
- perceived by any party involved to be rooted in opposition to the perceived exploitation of animals.
The unlawful or anti-social acts can include malicious communications, aggravated trespass and vandalism.
TOPˆDomestic extremism (DE)
Domestic extremism is the term used to describe any unlawful or recognisably anti-social act carried out as part of an 'extreme campaign'.
It is often associated with campaigns focused around a single issue, such as animal rights.
See 'extreme campaigns'.
TOPˆDenial of service attack (DoS)
The disruption of a computer or telecommunications network by overloading the network with traffic; an attack that explicitly prevents legitimate users from accessing a service.
DoS attacks can affect email, telephone and fax systems.
Domestic extremists use this tactic to disrupt information and telecommunications systems at target organisations by flooding email accounts, switchboards and fax machines with incoming traffic.
TOPˆE-crime
The term 'e-crime' is used to describe computer-based crime and criminal activity, such as hacking, identity theft, the use of websites to incite or promote criminal activity, and so on.
TOPˆ'Extreme campaign'
This is when the tactics of a lawful single-issue campaign escalate into unlawful activity. This can include aggravated trespass, e-crime and criminal damage.
Extreme campaigns create a climate of fear through intimidation and harassment that aims to force targeted organisations to capitulate to domestic extremist demands.
TOPˆHacking
Breaking into or harming any kind of computer or telecommunications system.
Unauthorised access to computer networks and systems by domestic extremists to glean information about a target, disrupt the network or alter information.
TOPˆHarassment
The term 'harassment' refers to:
- Conduct directed at or towards an individual by another person
- that causes the individual to fear violence may be used against them or another person or
- causes the individual to feel fear, alarm or distress.
Organisations, such as a company or academic institution, can also be subject to harassment.
TOPˆ'Home visits'
'Home visits' are a tactic used by domestic extremists, particularly animal rights extremists, as part of an extreme campaign. It refers to domestic extremists protesting at the homes of individuals with links to a target in extreme campaign.
Home visits involve activity intended to threaten and intimidate.
Typically, a home visit will take place early in the morning or at night and will result in criminal damage, such as graffiti.
TOPˆ'Lock on'
A 'lock on' is when a domestic extremist fastens him/herself onto an object to cause an obstruction or disruption using a padlock in combination with arm tubes to make it difficult for the police to remove the individual, the object or both.
Lock ons usually involve several domestic extremists and can involved the use of multiple arm tubes, barrels, vehicles, clamps, D-locks in combination and at more than one location.
TOPˆ'Mobile demo' – mobile demonstrations
This is when domestic extremists move from one location to another to demonstrate at target organisations.
Mobile demos frequently occur in urban areas. The domestic extremists move between targets by public transport, on foot or using cars and minibuses.
The demonstrations tend to be short and often take place in more than one police force area in order to evade police attention and arrest.
TOPˆ'Phishing'
The use of bogus email and fake websites to steal user names, passwords and other information connected to online identities in order to commit fraud.
TOPˆPost-conviction ASBOs (anti-social behaviour orders)
ASBOs are used to protect the public from behaviour that is likely to escalate to the criminal level and cause alarm or distress to a community.
An ASBO sets out conditions prohibiting the person named in it from doing anything specified in the order; for example, entering a defined area.
Breaching an ASBO is a criminal offence.
Under the Police Reform Act 2002 (Sections 61and 64), the police can request the imposition of an ASBOs during the prosecution of individuals for criminal offences carried out as part of a domestic extremist campaign.
TOPˆSecondary targeting
This is the targeting of parties with direct business links to the organisation that is the focus of an extreme campaign – the 'primary target'.
Secondary targeting can include customers and suppliers, and individual employees of organisations.
Animal rights extremists view any organisation or individual with links to the animal research industry as justifiable targets in an extreme campaign.
Also see, 'tertiary targeting'.
TOPˆTertiary targeting
This is the targeting of parties with indirect links to an organisation that is the focus of an extreme campaign – the 'primary target'.
Tertiary targeting can include customers, suppliers, and employees of the organisation linked to the primary target.
Animal rights extremists view organisation or individual with any link to the animal research industry as justifiable targets in an extreme campaign.
Also see, 'secondary targeting'.
TOPˆVulnerability
A vulnerability is a feature of a system or organisation that can be used bypass security and protection measures.


