Were the London riots really fuelled by Facebook and Twitter? | Media. In October 1985, on the Broadwater Farm estate in Tottenham where the death of Cynthia Jarrett sparked riots that culminated in the brutal murder of PC Keith Blakelock, a community leader stood on his chair at a packed open-air meeting. The man bellowed into a megaphone to the 150 residents in front of him: "You tell them that it's a life for a life from now on. This is war. " Over whoops and cheers from the residents, he turned to a huddle of police officers standing 50 yards away and warned: "I hope you're listening. There is no way I am going to condemn the actions of the youth on Sunday night. " Twenty six years later, police officers are still listening – but the megaphones and open-air meetings have been largely replaced. This weekend's north London riots, the Daily Mail announced on Monday, were "fuelled by social media".
But is this necessarily the case? However, otherwise, if there was any sign that a peaceful protest would escalate, it wasn't to be found on Facebook. How Blackberry, not Twitter, fuelled the fire under London’s riots. Twitter. Computer hackers have defaced the official website of BlackBerry owner Research In Motion, in a retaliatory attack over the comp. 2.30pm: Good afternoon and welcome to the Guardian's continuing live coverage of the unrest in London and the rest of Britain. The cleanup from last night's trouble is well under way, and preparations are being made for tonight. It's clear that the police, particularly in London, are preparing a far more robust response.
Here's a summary of events so far today. • The riots that have plagued London for three consecutive nights have claimed their first life. A man shot in his car during last night's rioting in Croydon, south London, died after being admitted to hospital. . • David Cameron has announced that 16,000 police officers will be deployed in London tonight, in an effort to get a grip on the violence. . • Police have disclosed that live baton rounds – non-lethal plastic bullets – may be deployed tonight. . • Rioting spread to other cities in Britain for the first time, with unrest in Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool and Nottingham. 2.43pm: Boris Johnson is speaking in Clapham Junction.
JeffJarvis: *Anonymity and social censorship in the UK riots comment censored ? The UK government is contemplating tactics against the UK riots that set dangerous precedents. In Parliament today, PM David Cameron said authorities and the industry were looking 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.” Well, at least he did post it as a question of right and wrong. It would be wrong, sir. Who is to say what communication and content should be banned from whom on what platform? On my Blackberry? My computer? Cameron also said, according to a Guardian tweet, that he would look at asking online services to take down offending photos.
Beware, sir. This regulatory reflex further exposes the danger of British government thinking it can and should regulate media. There is also debate about tactics to restrict anonymity in public. But again, be aware of the precedents these actions would set. When debating public identity, one must decide what a public is. MASTERPIECE CONTEMPORARY | The Last Enemy | PBS. Last Enemy - what the Government knows about us.
Twitter is right: keep the tweets flowing. **Anonymity and social censorship in the UK riots « BuzzMachine. The UK government is contemplating tactics against the UK riots that set dangerous precedents. In Parliament today, PM David Cameron said authorities and the industry were looking 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.” Well, at least he did post it as a question of right and wrong. It would be wrong, sir. Who is to say what communication and content should be banned from whom on what platform? On my Blackberry? Cameron also said, according to a Guardian tweet, that he would look at asking online services to take down offending photos.
Beware, sir. This regulatory reflex further exposes the danger of British government thinking it can and should regulate media. There is also debate about tactics to restrict anonymity in public. But again, be aware of the precedents these actions would set. Right now, online, we are having many debates about anonymity and identity. Jeff Jarvis: In this post, as in #Publi... Jeff Jarvis: New post on #ukriots, anon... UK riots: Commons debate and live updates | Politics. 3.12pm: Welcome to our continuing coverage of the riots.
Here are few of today's main developments in parliament following David Cameron's statement: • Instant messaging services will be reviewed:"We are working with the 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," said the prime minister. • The police will have new powers to order people to remove facemasks. "On facemasks, currently [the police] can only remove these in a specific geographical location and for a limited time," Cameron said. "So I can announce today that we are going to give the police the discretion to remove face coverings under any circumstances where there is reasonable suspicion that they are related to criminal activity.
" • Curfew powers will be reviewed. . • Individuals and companies will get compensation for damage caused by rioting. Judge Berg said: Police accessed BlackBerry messages to thwart planned riots | UK news. Scotland Yard stopped attacks by rioters on sites across London hours before they had been due to take place after managing to "break into" encrypted social messaging sites, it has emerged. Attacks on the Olympics site, stores in Oxford Circus and the two Westfield shopping centres, in east and west London, had been plotted using BlackBerry Messenger (BBM).
Detectives made the breakthrough shortly before the planned attacks after scouring the mobile phones of people who had been arrested during the riots. It gave them access to messages, planning riots and looting, which were bouncing around the heavily encrypted BBM service. But it also gave the Met other information, meaning they were able to use details gained from the seized phones to give officers "live time monitoring" of BBM and also Twitter.
This Tuesday, police revealed they had considered switching off social messaging sites including BBM and Twitter. Orde told politicians they legally had no role in setting tactics. Jwildeboer: @marietjed66 - rumours tha... Marietje Schaake: @jwildeboer Do you have li... Jwildeboer: @marietjed66 - ask and tho... Jwildeboer: Mubarak err Cameron thinks... Jwildeboer: I hear @telecomix is prepa... How the London riots showed us two sides of social networking. I watched in disbelief, horror, and dismay as news broke of Londoners laying waste to their—and my—city. My part of South London, Tulse Hill, escaped the riots, probably for want of anything to steal, but businesses were attacked a mile away in Streatham, and widespread looting hit nearby Brixton. For the past four nights, the wail of police and fire sirens has been a continuous feature of the city's soundtrack. These events are a godsend for 24-hour rolling news, but they also show its limitations.
Like many others, I watched both BBC News and Sky News to find out what was going on. And like many others, I found the TV news incapable of keeping up with the changing situation. Live text coverage from the BBC, the Guardian, and Sky News fared much better, but it was Twitter—of course—that was the most responsive, most timely source of information about the rioting and looting up and down the country. Twitter, tool of collective action From the boardroom to the street. Anonymous protests close San Francisco underground stations | World news. Democracy Now! #OPBART. AMY GOODMAN: As we talk about what happened at the BART stations in San Francisco and then take this global, we are turning to a closer look at a shadowy hacker activist group known as Anonymous.
The group made headlines again this weekend when it hacked into the BART website mybart.org and leaked the names, phone numbers and passwords of passengers in retaliation for BART’s decision to shut down cell phone service at the four stations last week. Anonymous dubbed the campaign OpBART. This is a part of the message posted on YouTube about the operation. ANONYMOUS OPBART MESSAGE: Today, we’ve seen America come alive. In the Bay Area, we’ve seen people gagged. AMY GOODMAN: A video message posted online by hacktivist group Anonymous. In recent years, online hackers who identified as being part of Anonymous and other groups have carried out dozens of high-profile online operations.
In recent months, law enforcement agencies across the world have begun cracking down on the hackers.