David Cameron Proposes Banning U.K. Riot Suspects From Social Media

The Guardian:

David Cameron has told parliament that in the wake of this week's riots the government is looking at banning people from using social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook if they are thought to be plotting criminal activity.

Read the whole story: The Guardian

Comments

[jedfraser]

04:25 PM on 08/13/2011

Wow, that's dangerously close to oppression.

[Moxo]

10:24 AM on 08/12/2011

Banning printing presses to banning social medoa access... my, how the centuries do repear rhemsleves.

I guess the Brit leadership can accept hacking of themselves and private citizens by a news/media corporation, but if the plebeians dare congregate.....

[AMG72]

10:52 PM on 08/11/2011

If anyone from the UK government criticizes Iran again I will smack them for hypocricy.

[Colorama]

06:01 PM on 08/11/2011

If governments can cut off free speech in one instance, what's stopping them from cutting it off in every instance?

This sets an alarming precedent and a complete 180 to the ideas of freedom pioneered in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Squash freedom of speech, for whatever reason, and it becomes that much easier for a tyrant to rule without question.

The British no doubt tried this on the Founding Fathers in one form or another, as Americans were fighting to gain their independence.

[mrpell]

10:46 PM on 08/11/2011

You don't have the freedom to plot an illegal overthrow of the government. Aiding and abetting anarchy is not your right.

[Watching rock grow]

11:11 PM on 08/11/2011

Unless you win as did my Colonial ancestors.

[SunburnedGoat]

03:39 AM on 08/12/2011

Isn't an overthrow of the government, by very definition, illegal? I guess overthrowing Mussolini was wrong and shouldn't have happened. And maybe we should be condemning all the Middle Eastern protests too then, while we're at it. Right?

[AMG72]

10:52 PM on 08/11/2011

The west = utter hypocrites.

[lensman3]

03:32 PM on 08/11/2011

Sounds like what Egypt, Libya, and Syria are tried (or trying). That will make everyone mad.....

[Watching rock grow]

11:12 PM on 08/11/2011

Exactly!

[apathyman]

02:35 PM on 08/11/2011

This is an amazingly asinine solution to the problem and one that wont work. he's trying to put a bandaid on a broken leg.

[Visionary Excellence]

01:21 PM on 08/11/2011

Instead of fixing the underlying social and economic dynamics that are fueling the rage, they just need to get more authoritarian. that ought to fix the problem. or... it might redirect the flow into other dynamic expressions of discontent.

[theveggiedude]

02:20 PM on 08/11/2011

In Saudi Arabia, women are not allowed to drive cars. They do not have that right. In the US, you don't have a right either to drive a car. It is considered a privilege and one that can be taken away at any time. When that is done to DUI's, would you compare that to Saudi Arabia? No. Well, the youth in London don't have cars to take away. And they don't even need a car, the public transport system is plenty good. If they used social media to organize criminal acts, then I think it is appropriate to deny them future access to those things. After all, it isn't a right, it is a privilege.

[lensman3]

03:41 PM on 08/11/2011

What is the difference between using social media and talking on a street corner. I don't think there is any difference. A California state court has said that the phone number stored on your cell phone is the same as if you had them written in a little black book. Those phone numbers can be used convict you if a person in cell phone phone directory is a person of interest to the cops. Plus the U.N. has stated that the Internet is now a right.

[Moxo]

10:28 AM on 08/12/2011

And if they took Public Transport to get to the riot... then ban them from using it?

[lensman3]

03:41 PM on 08/11/2011

Oh that will work! Turn them on to Jesus!!!

[raysimlee]

12:38 PM on 08/11/2011

Well when Middle Eastern rioters use social network to connect the west were ecstatic that western technology were used in the so called "freedom of speech". Now social media network is being used in UK riots they want to ban it. There are so many differences in the eye of the west. There is no equality of humanity. Human right is only used against third world humanity. It definitely cannot apply to the civilized westerners? Where are the Amnesty International goons? are they too scared to raise a voice on the inequality of the underprivileged in UK? Are they too chicken to anger the government who pay their keep to attack other countries?

[Visionary Excellence]

01:22 PM on 08/11/2011

"The West" or the neoliberal global empire that makes up 00.1% of the west at best.

[theveggiedude]

02:24 PM on 08/11/2011

That's like equating taking the privilege to drive in the US because you were guilty of DUI, and then comparing it to being the exact same thing where women are not allowed to drive in certain conservative middle eastern countries.

[Colorama]

06:07 PM on 08/11/2011

That analogy makes no sense. There is no right to drive -- we're not born with licenses in our pockets or a car in the driveway -- but we are all created with the God-given ability and the RIGHT to speak!

[Eris23]

12:18 PM on 08/11/2011

The "tough guy" reactionary solutions to these riots keep getting sillier.

[gunrunner99]

08:15 PM on 08/11/2011

Then what is the solution Eris23? Not being snarky,just curious.

[Eris23]

12:40 PM on 08/12/2011

Something constructive rather than reactionary. A good start would be a focus on re-creating manufacturing jobs in the UK again, tariffs/taxes imposed on foreign goods and services that can be manufactured or provided in the UK, with the revenues raised by those taxes going towards education and apprenticeships. A "social media ban" is simply something that will be ignored.

[mrpell]

10:50 PM on 08/11/2011

And your solution is to give them what they want right?

[Eris23]

12:40 PM on 08/12/2011

Can you tell us what they want?