More on Social Media & the London Riots

The very social media that enabled rioters in London to better organize their attacks may also be the thing that brings them down. Authorities in the UK are looking into ways to track down the perpetrators via their Blackberry Messenger servers. There’s also word that British officials may take this a step further. They’re considering temporary, preemptive bans on social media. Prime Minister David Cameron raised the possibility in his speech in the House of Commons on August 11th. According to sources, the U.K. government is “considering blocking all social media communications whenever it thinks people are using them to plan illegal or antisocial behavior.”

Their rich irony here in the fact that these are the kinds of actions (social media shutdowns) that more oppressive governments routinely take when faced with any form of dissent. Many Western governments have strongly criticized these preemptive practices in other countries in the past. As such, it’s difficult to imagine these governments enacting such laws themselves without a lot more public debate about the implications.