Two weeks after David Cameron’s speech, British officials met last Thursday with representatives of Research in Motion, Facebook and Twitter to discuss ways to control or limit social media in order to resist violence and turmoil in the streets.

The government’s home minister, Theresa May, said that the goal behind the meeting was not to restrict social media, but instead “crack down networks being used for criminal behaviour”. The discussions in the meeting revolved around allowing more power to law enforcement to have access to data from these networks in order to fight back any possible organized riots.

In earlier statements, Research in Motion, the developer of BlackBerry, expressed its will to cooperate with local telecommunication operators, law enforcement and the British government. The company agreed to provide the British police information from the BlackBerry Messenger network.

Gordon Scobbie, a senior police officer who attended the meeting, suggested that Twitter could assist the police by compelling users to use their real names instead of nicknames. In a reply to this, Sean Garrett, a Twitter spokesman, said that Twitter was not considering requiring real names, insisting that the meeting was not a negotiation.

Meanwhile, Facebook said that it had already deleted certain groups, and had removed accounts created under fake identities. The company further emphasized that its social network was used in a positive way by Britons reacting to riots, including clean ups by residents in many neighborhoods.

Cameron’s initial suggestion seemed to be absent at Thursday meeting, as May informed social networks that the government had no intention of restricting Internet services.

Facebook, Twitter and other public sites on the Internet played a crucial role in linking many social movements in the Arab world, and leading them towards systematic change. However, the restriction and control of the Internet in Tunisia did not help in keeping the old regime in power. In Egypt, turning off the Internet for four days was a motive to enrage passive citizens to go out to protest.

Banning Internet use in the UK could have been a fatal step and could have worsened the situation even more. On the one hand, the action would undermine the credibility of the country as an ancient democracy, and as a promoter of liberties in the third world. On the other hand, taking such actions would encourage regimes that have been criticized by the West for limiting freedoms to further sustain their control over the media.

Image Courtesy of  GeorgeRexTA [at gmail [dot] com] (Flickr: London Riots, Croydon) [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

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Anonymous has been very active, posting videos via Youtube in order to attain a more just and positive world. All viral campaigns are aimed to encourage people to step up and make a difference in today’s unequal society.

On July 16, Internet hacking group Anonymous released a two-minute long video, plotting against Facebook. Their bone to pick with Facebook is its deception of users, regarding privacy on Facebook.

Facebook has legally maneuvered its terms and conditions so that it allows them to sell users’ private information with consent. Facebook has records of users’ logs and has access to said information, which is a breach of privacy. They know more about users than the people we come into contact with every day.

In order to send a message to Facebook and its users, as a result of its misappropriation of rights, Anonymous announced that on November 5 Facebook will illegally be shut down. The name Guy Fawkes was a trending topic on Twitter on August 10.

This date was not chosen at random; it is connected with their identity and is the idea behind the mask. The idea was inspired by Guy Fawkes, a man who is known for taking part in a failed plot to bring down King James in 1605.

Recent updates show that members of Anonymous are in a sort of civil war; the entire group is not in agreement with the idea of bringing Facebook down. In a Twitter post they say “#OpFacebook is being organized by some Anons.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that all of #anonymous agrees with it.” The message of the campaign is to bring awareness to the lack of privacy Facebook grants users when they agree to its terms and conditions upon joining.

Anonymous is not enthused about the gross violation of privacy put upon people, in order to provide advertisers with personal information, which makes the spamming of pages possible.

The message spread so quick that it inspired them to release a new video pertaining to the London riots that took place earlier this month. The operation is known as Operation Britain. The message was to motivate protestors to speak up for their rights on October 15 and to resolve conflicts in a peaceful manner.

They do not condone “thuggery” but support the reasoning for the actions that took place in London. In their message they say “The riots that we have witnessed over the last week, whilst violent and misguided are a product of decades of neglect inflicted on your country by various governments.

We do not condone mindless thuggery, but that does not stop us from seeing the reality behind it,”

Later in the video, Anonymous said, “Saturday October 15, 2011 will be your opportunity for rebellion. We call on Britain to unite and organise peacefully. Unions, anti-cuts groups, community organisations, students, activists, citizens: you know your political system is not fit for purpose,”

There is no definitive answer as to whether what Anonymous is doing is right

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It has been a dramatic weekend in Tottenham, north London, where the gathering of around 300 people in the streets turned into an overnight riot that saw petrol bombs being thrown at police while vehicles and building were set ablaze.

The Daily Telegraph could report that 26 police officers were injured, at least one of them left with serious head injuries, while 42 people have been arrested. According to the London Ambulance Service, a total of 10 people had been treated and nine were admitted to hospital.

A gathering of around 120 people had earlier Saturday staged a march from the local Broadwater Farm area to Tottenham police station in protest of the death of 29-year-old Mark Duggan who was shot by police in a gun fire exchange on Thursday. A friend of Mr Duggan told news media that marchers had wanted “justice for the family” and “something had to be done.”

“This guy was not violent. Yes, he was involved in things but he was not an aggressive person. He had never hurt anyone,” said the 53-year-old marcher.

Another member of the original protest, Vanessa Robinson, said the demonstration outside the police station had begun peacefully. She told the BBC that the situation had then turned into “absolute chaos.”

What police officers described as ‘missiles’ were thrown at the police station and what appeared to be young, mask-clad people began to throw petrol bombs, bricks and anything they could get their hands on off the street at officers who were attempting to calm down the masses.

In the early hours of Sunday local time, many rioters had moved to the nearby retail park where they were seen looting shops. Sky News reporter Simon Newton, who was at the scene, said he saw youth wheeling out televisions and bagfuls of clothes. Police were not in the area.

During the violent escalation, two police cars and a double decker bus was set on fire. A branch of Aldi supermarket was also torched and Sky News believes the looters had targeted shops in the aftermath. Also residential areas were disturbed.

Local politician David Lammy made a statement on his website that said “We already have one grieving family in our community and further violence will not heal that pain.”

Mr. Lammy appealed for calm while the investigation takes place. “The Tottenham community and Mark Duggan’s family and friends need to understand what happened on Thursday evening when Mark lost his life. To understand those facts, we must have calm.”

In another statement, Commissioner Rachel Cerfontyne, of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said “I understand the distress that the shooting of Mark Duggan has caused to his family and in the community and that people need answers about what happened to him.”

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Mayor of London Boris Johnson said to the BBC: “Violence and destruction of property will do nothing to facilitate [the IPCC] investigation and we urge those involved to respect the rule of law.”

Image Courtesy of  http://www.flickr.com/photos/beaconradio/

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