UK government won’t restrict social media
UK politicians have no plans to limit social networks during times of social unrest following widespread disorder on the streets of the UK earlier this month. Home secretary Theresa May told a meeting of social networks that the government had no intention of “restricting internet services.”
Those present at the meeting, called by David Cameron, included representatives from Research in Motion (RIM), Twitter and Facebook after the three sites saw unprecedented levels of traffic during the recent outbreaks of disorder on the streets. The Home Office added, “The discussions looked at how law enforcement and the networks can build on the existing relationships and co-operation to prevent the networks being used for criminal behaviour. The government did not seek any additional powers to close down social media networks.”
Banning the use of social media in certain situations would have backfired on the government, as they would have been accused of restricting the basic human right of free speech. For all the criticism leveled at social media during the riots, a site such as Twitter did more good than harm. Its open nature meant that communication between the populations trying to help each other was a lot easier. The presence of updates from any of the communities in London also meant that people were safer and casualty numbers were kept down as a result.
The main accusations centered on RIM’s BlackBerry messenger (BBM). It is alleged that the service was used by young people to coordinate riots and send call outs to friends to tell them where to meet. Thanks to the closed nature of the network, it was easy for users of BBM to not get caught and for the violence to escalate. Facebook is the only medium by which people have so far been arrested. As the court cases start to go to trial, then many more could be charged thanks to social media evidence
If any ban was put in place, it would affect many of those in the gambling industry that use the site on a daily basis for all manner of activities. Banning the sites would send out the wrong message as a country and the coalition did well to avoid making a cock-up.
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