[LINK] itnews: 'British Govt won't close social media in riots'

Roger Clarke Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au
Fri Aug 26 07:53:48 AEST 2011


[Cameron's un-jerked his knee and taken his foot out of his mouth.]


British Govt won't close social media in riots
Stefano Ambrogi
Aug 26, 2011 7:17 AM (31 minutes ago)
http://www.itnews.com.au/News/268149,british-govt-wont-close-social-media-in-riots.aspx

The British government said on Thursday it was not seeking special 
powers to shut down social networking sites during civil unrest after 
holding talks with the industry and police on how to stop people 
plotting violence online.

It described a meeting between Home Secretary Theresa May, police and 
executives from Research in Motion's Blackberry Messenger, Twitter 
and Facebook as "constructive".

It hoped to build on cooperation to crack down on criminal elements 
taking advantage of the networks in the future, but said there were 
no plans to take drastic action.

"The government did not seek any additional powers to close down 
social media networks," a Home Office spokesman said.

Police and MPs say they have some evidence social media, in 
particular RIM's popular Blackberry Messenger (BBM), was used by 
rioters and looters to incite violence that tore through the capital 
and other English cities two weeks ago.

Many of the rioters favoured BBM over Twitter and other social media 
because its messages are encrypted and private.

After the meeting Facebook said it "welcomed the fact that this was a 
dialogue about working together to keep people safe rather than about 
imposing new restrictions on internet services".

The company reiterated that the site was used for many positive 
purposes during the riots, including letting friends and family know 
they were safe, and stressed there was "no place" for illegal 
activity on the site.

Facebook has said it has already prioritised a review of taking down 
content on its site that is "egregious during sensitive times like 
the [British] riots".

RIM had no immediate comment following the talks.

In the immediate aftermath of the riots RIM said it cooperates with 
all telecommunications, law enforcement and regulatory authorities, 
but declined to say whether it would hand over chat logs or user 
details to police.

Online social media firms also say that their services were widely 
used by members of the British public to help others avoid 
troublespots and to coordinate a clean up after the riots.

In the wake of the disturbances two weeks ago, that shocked the 
country, Prime Minister David Cameron had asked authorities to review 
"whether it would be right" to shut down online communication 
altogether during periods of social unrest.

Such a move has been widely condemned as repressive when used by 
other countries, especially during the Arab Spring uprisings in North 
Africa and the Middle East.

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.

The Home Office said previously that "social networking is not a 
cause of the recent disturbances but a means of enabling criminals to 
communicate" and that needed to be tackled.

Responding to questions about Twitter's role during the disturbances 
in London, the city's top police officer Acting Commissioner Tim 
Godwin told a government committee he had toyed with the idea of 
seeking powers to switch it off.

But he said: "The legality of that is very questionable and 
additionally it is also a very useful intelligence asset."

(Additional reporting by Georgina Prodhan; editing by Steve Addison)


-- 
Roger Clarke                                 http://www.rogerclarke.com/
			            
Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
                    Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916
mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au                http://www.xamax.com.au/

Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of NSW
Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University



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