I pulled the headlines (below) from Google News. On one level the use of social to counter the rioters is heartening. On another level the huge emphasis that the mainstream media gave to the 'Internet patrols,' as against the relatively light coverage given to the on-foot citizen patrols points to a disturbing trend, which manifested full-blown during Egypt's 'revolution': the attempt to give social media a much greater role and signifance in the struggle for freedom than it merits.
The same happened with press coverage of the mass protests that led to Mubarak's ouster. The citizen patrols in Cairo and other cities in Egypt that were formed to protect civilian life and property during the widespread arson and looting that descended -- patrols often working in tandem with the police, who'd led their offcials posts -- were an example of a true counterswarm tactic.
Yet publics around the world were unaware of the situation if they were taking their understanding of the unrest in Egypt from television; that's because major media TV (notably CNN International and al Jazeera) were not showing viewers the violence that broken out all over the country.
Looters hunted down via websites
Sydney Morning Herald - 7 hours ago
LONDON: Some Britons have taken to social networking sites to expose rioters who went on the rampage, posting photographs of masked gangs looting and hurling missiles. Much of the violence, which started in London but has since spread to other parts of ...
London Riots 2011: Violence Caught on Surveillance Cameras
ABC News - Ned Potter - 9 hours ago
London Police posted images of alleged rioters on Flickr, and asked the public to help identify them. (London Metropolitan Police/Flickr) British police, trying to catch instigators of the London riots, fought back with ...
The London Riots: Social Media's Latest Watershed Moment
PC Magazine - Peter Pachal - 9 hours ago
The police pursuing rioters in London have a new ally: social networks. How Twitter, Flickr, and their brethren are making the world a safer place. By Peter Pachal A city descends into chaos and rioting following a terrible loss ...
Showing posts with label social media in London Riots. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social media in London Riots. Show all posts
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Thursday, August 11, 2011
"U.K. may disrupt social networks during unrest"
Reuters, London:
U.K. may disrupt social networks during unrest
Mohammed Abbas
Published Thursday, Aug. 11, 2011 9:00AM EDT
Last updated Thursday, Aug. 11, 2011 12:23PM EDT
Britain is considering disrupting online social networking such as Blackberry Messenger and Twitter during civil unrest, Prime Minister David Cameron said on Thursday, a move widely condemned as repressive when used by other countries.
Egyptian authorities shut down mobile and Internet services in January during mass protests against then-President Hosni Mubarak, while China is quick to shut down online communication it sees as subversive.
Police and politicians have said online social networks, in particular Research in Motion’s popular Blackberry Messenger (BBM), were used by rioters and looters to co-ordinate during four days of disorder across England this week.
“We are working with police, the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality,” Cameron told parliament during an emergency session prompted by the riots.
Many of the rioters favoured Canadian firm RIM’s BBM over Twitter and other social media because its messages are encrypted and private.
The company said on Monday that it co-operates with all telecommunications, law enforcement and regulatory authorities, but it declined to say whether it would hand over chat logs or user details to police.
RIM’s encrypted services have been blamed for aiding militant attacks in India and for allowing unrelated men and women to communicate in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
In August last year, a source close to talks between RIM and Saudi authorities said the company had agreed to hand over information that would allow monitoring of BBM.
Online social media was also widely used by members of the British public in recent days to help others avoid troublespots and to coordinate a clean up after the rioting had ended.
BBM has more than 45 million active users worldwide, 70 per cent of whom use it daily, sending billions of messages, pictures and other files in total every month.
Authorities grappling with violent unrest should avoid heavy-handed clampdowns on social media and instead try to enlist the help of the public against the rioters, said John Bassett, a former senior official at British signals intelligence agency GCHQ and now a senior fellow at the Royal United Services Institute.
“The use of social media in the unrest looks like a game-changer. But any attempt to exert state control over social media looks likely to fail,” he told Reuters.
“A much better approach would be to encourage and support individuals and community groups in identifying alarming developments on social media and even speaking out on the internet against extremists and criminals, and ensuring that the police have the skills and technical support to get pre-emptive and operational intelligence from social media when necessary.”
"Britain’s musings of social-media ban fraught with technical difficulty"
From Globe and Mail:
OMAR EL AKKAD
TECHNOLOGY REPORTER
Published Thursday, Aug. 11, 2011 10:57PM EDT
Last updated Thursday, Aug. 11, 2011 11:19PM EDT
David Cameron appears to have had a change of heart on the subject of Internet freedom.
“Our interests lie in upholding our values – in insisting on the right to peaceful protest, in freedom of speech and the Internet, in freedom of assembly and the rule of law,” the British Prime Minister said in a speech before the Kuwait National Assembly in February, referring to the revolutions of the Arab Spring. “But these are not just our values, but the entitlement of people everywhere; of people in Tahrir Square as much as Trafalgar Square.”
Mr. Cameron told Parliament the government is investigating whether it would be “right and possible” to ban people from using social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, and the popular messaging service BlackBerry Messenger on Research In Motion’s smartphones, because rioters have been using them to communicate.
“Free flow of information can be used for good. But it can also be used for ill,” he said. “And when people are using social media for violence we need to stop them.”
Any attempt to place a ban on the use of social media would be fraught with difficulty. Not only would such a move be challenged as an infringement of the right to freedom of speech that Mr. Cameron so recently lauded, it would entail costly and complex work by telecom carriers and Internet Service Providers. What’s more, there's no guarantee it would work, given the myriad ways activists have found to get around such roadblocks. But at a time of crisis that threatens to undermine the Prime Minister's leadership, it appears no strategy is off the table.
Mr. Cameron’s statement drew swift criticism from civil libertarians, who compared it to attempts by authoritarian regimes to stifle dissent. The London-based Open Rights Group said it had “broad concerns” with attempts to create new laws to regulate social media.
“New measures to remove Web freedoms of any sort will quickly be seized upon by oppressive governments to justify their own actions,” said Jim Killock, the group’s executive director. “The U.K. should not be using the same methods as governments in China, Bahrain or Saudi Arabia.”
Perhaps the most extreme example of a ban on Internet communication came in Egypt during the uprising that overthrew President Hosni Mubarak. At the direction of the state, Egypt’s ISPs shut off all access to the Web, wiping the country off the digital map. In Iran, authorities were especially concerned by the use of Twitter during the 2009 election protests, when the micro-blogging site became such a pivotal tool for protesters that the U.S. State Department asked Twitter to hold off on maintenance downtime so information in and out of Iran would keep flowing.
Whether Mr. Cameron’s idea will become government policy remains to be seen. But in the view of one expert, there is no guarantee that a ban on social media would do anything to stem the violence.
“There’s no necessary connection between the use of social media and the extent of the rioting,” said Vince Mosco, a sociology professor at Queen’s University in Kingston and an authority on political communication. “And there’s no guarantee that those carrying out these riots won’t use other means to circumvent a government crackdown on the networks.”
The British government would also have to consider the unintended consequences of a ban. The BlackBerry, for example, is the tool of choice for much of London’s financial community, whose members rely on BlackBerry Messenger.
BlackBerry Messenger has proven a hit with British rioters as well, its popularity attributed to the fact that it is encrypted. In reality, snooping on messages sent from consumer BlackBerrys is relatively easy for security agencies. BBM’s popularity, especially among younger users, has more to do with the fact that it is essentially a free form of text-messaging.
RIM is no stranger to government interference. Last year, a number of countries in the Middle East and Asia threatened to ban certain BlackBerry services unless the Canadian firm gave their security agencies greater access to encrypted communications. RIM insists that it does not provide different levels of access to different countries, and provides assistance only within the limits of local lawful access laws. Twitter has regularly refused to take down content posted using the service. Facebook removes content that is deemed violent or that could qualify as hate speech.
Ultimately, Prof. Mosco said, the British government is unlikely to go ahead with a social media ban unless the situation in London becomes significantly worse. But even by floating the idea, Mr. Cameron may have already set an unwelcome precedent.
“For the government to talk about this sends a message to people who rely on these networks that their reliance is threatened,” Prof. Mosco said. “Something bad has already happened.”
British government considering banning social media sites in future riots
August 11, 2011:
U.K. May Block Twitter, Blackberry in Riots
by Amy Thomson and Robert Hutton
Bloomberg
U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said the government is considering blocking social networks and messaging services amid the worst riots since the 1980s, prompting condemnation from lawyers and free speech advocates.
The government is working with police, the intelligence services and companies to look at “whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality,” Cameron said today in parliament. He mentioned Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM)’s BlackBerry Messenger service as one of the tools that were used by rioters.
Police have said they are investigating the use of social- networking services such as those operated by Twitter Inc., Facebook Inc. and BlackBerry Messenger. Three people were arrested by police in Southampton, England, on suspicion of using social media and messaging to encourage rioting.
“If you try to stop people communicating, you create more of a problem,” said Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group, an organization promoting freedom of expression on the Internet. “People are angry because their freedoms are threatened.”
BlackBerry’s external U.K. spokespeople declined to comment on the possibility that authorities might shut or monitor user accounts. Twitter spokespeople could not immediately be reached.
“We look forward to meeting with the Home Secretary to explain the measures we have been taking to ensure that Facebook is a safe and positive platform for the people in the U.K. at this challenging time,” said Sophy Tobias, a spokeswoman for Facebook. “We have ensured any credible threats of violence are removed from Facebook.”
The social networking website has a policy of taking down content that threatens violence or might qualify as hate speech.
A law allowing the government to shut down a particular network could be easily abused, said David Hooper, a defamation and intellectual property lawyer with Reynolds Porter Chamberlain LLP in London. Groups could also find ways around the ban by employing other technologies, he said.
“History does show that if governments take wide powers when emotions are running very high, the powers tend to be abused,” he said.
While the U.K. government might legally be able to introduce measures to block particular messaging services or websites, the revolutions in the Middle East this year showed that the multiplicity of platforms available for communication makes governments’ actions to block it ineffective, said Rob Bratby, head of telecommunications at international law firm Olswang LLP.
7/7
The City of London Police asked wireless operators to restrict the network around the underground stations for several hours following the bombings on July 7, 2005. Telefonica SA (TEF)’s O2 has said that it shut down access to the public around noon on the day of the bombings, allowing only a pre-authorized list of emergency responders to communicate on its network.
Citizens’ “fundamental right” to free speech isn’t absolute and carries with it duties and responsibilities, said Jennifer McDermott, a lawyer with Withers LLP in London. However, even if the government curbs communications in the interests of public safety, it must show it was justified in doing so, she said.
Temptations
Tactics such as blocking social networks invite comparisons with toppled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, said Daniel Hamilton, director of Big Brother Watch, a civil liberties group that argues for privacy and the reduction of government monitoring. The U.K. government must “avoid the temptation to engage in populist authoritarianism,” in response to the riots.
All social media will be reviewed, Cameron’s spokesman Steve Field told reporters. The government is still investigating how useful and practical blocking the websites and services would be and hasn’t reached any conclusion, he said.
More than 1,300 people have been arrested in the U.K. since the disorder began on Aug. 6, with 888 of those in London.
“Free flow of information can be used for good, but it can also be used for ill,” Cameron said today. “When people are using social media for violence, we need to stop them.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Amy Thomson in London at athomson6@bloomberg.net; Robert Hutton in London at rhutton1@bloomberg.net
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