David Cameron threatens to block social media in Britain

[totalmotorcycle]

David Cameron threatens to block social media in Britain



Britain's prime minister David Cameron is threatening to respond to the recent riots in London and other cities by blocking individuals' access to Twitter, Facebook, BlackBerry Messenger, and other social media. Speaking to the House of Commons on Thursday, where the MPs had been dragged back from their summer vacations, Cameron said:


"Everyone watching these horrific actions will be stuck by how they were organised via social media. Free flow of information can be used for good. But it can also be used for ill.

So 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. I have also asked the police if they need any other new powers."


Presumably he could ask the Iranians and Syrians how they do it. 36% of British teens are on the Blackberry. Financial Times

[ceemes]

This does not bode well at all. If they enact such legislation, then what is to stop them from expanding it till it encompasses us all? Thin edge of the wedge if you ask me. Government controlling the access to means of communication by the masses is the hallmark of repressive governments. As bad as the riots were and yes social media played a part in it, these idea is even worse and in the long run will be more damaging for the general public then all the riots that ever happened combined.

[totalmotorcycle]

What was that line....it went something like...

"If you give up your liberty for security you will find yourself without both in the end." (Or something like that?)

And another one like "You cannot impose your rights upon another person's rights" (or something like that as well).

A lot of the Middle Eastern countries and even China are now blocking access to social media sites to quell unrest. "Freedom of speech" is on of the best things about the internet, it's pretty unique. I would hate to think one day we lose it and in turn lose easy communication with each other en-masse. How do you even try to regulate good speech/thoughts from bad ones without ruining the entire system?

I was pretty shocked to read that UK is looking to block social media as well. Maybe I'm too naive, but I feel that Gov'ts should work towards helping their populace and their country be and become better rather than impose limitations and rules. "Education not regulation" would be my slogan...haha

Mike

[mogster]

I think this is highly unlikely to happen for a number of reasons:

Equates to press censorship which I'm sure would cause outrage

The economic clout of social media companies will persuade them otherwise

The young vote which all parties crave would be motivated to vote them out of office

Covert monitoring & blocking almost certainly already exists

That said IF this proposal was seriously debated in the House of Commons, I for one would be prepared to march in protest. Not because I care particularly about social media (TMW excepted), but because free press & free expression is vital to my understanding of democracy!

[jstark47]

My opinion of Cameron reaches new lows.......

[dr_bar]

Is he friends with Harper???

[mogster]

My opinion of Cameron reaches new lows.......

My opinion was never very high in the first place!

[QuietMonkey]

The political agenda and outlook are always major hurdles to doing anything truly meaningful in positive for a society.

The typical politician is about 10 years behind the times (at best). News like this just reminds ya how out of touch most politicians are with reality and just so very socially stupid too... living in a bubble... having little common sense. They have such stupid solutions to problems that beating them over the head with a stick is the only solution for the idiocy they try to enact upon the popukace.

So often they say things (metaphorically) like, "is there a way we could chop off everyone's hands so they couldnt carry guns and make people think it was good for society? it would solve the problem right? but of course not my hands... just everyone elses hands..." This reminds me of a manager idiot i worked with who's solutions were generally like "here's a compromise: there's no problem, just forget about it"... he often made up reasons for not liking something, and when you point out that irrationality of his argument would just blink and move through his story like he missed the plot (which he did). Sort of a guy who says "I dont like any colour but black, so you cant paint this red", and then the next day it is painted yellow. In most cases these people are like politicians -- having another agenda; protecting a position; inconsiderate of others; clueless/careless about the reality of the situation, etc... and there logic usually falls apart pretty quick.

(shrug)

So Cameron is certainly par for the course, especially for the conservative side of government cronies, not unlike Harper as was mentioned above. Most people with an intelligent argument lose the interest of the (worried/paranoid) voting population who are unthinking, reactionary-types, who lap up what the major media sells to them... careless thinkers themselves. So it's easy to be outnumbered by dummies who are ill-informed in most situations... because stupid people have opinions to and want to be heard, often even more than people with some common sense and experience. The government emplopyees are no different than many corporate work environments who follow an archaic (and seriously flawed) system of rule which takes decades to break down.

This is much the same as many current social forums. Same stuff applied to alternate new forms communications, but it is slowly breaking down... on little trickle at a time. The governments will be one of the last to change because most people in power hold on very tight, and even the people above then cant figure out how to break the lower power entities because of there own limited thinking, and the unspoken agendas behind them. Capitalism alone has bred alot of this abuse/misuse and misunderstanding of the "spiritually pure" balance of power for the good of the "people". It's often just the usual sales-pitch done by a group of very good salesman to keep the power in there own hands and out of the average joe.

Politicians keep feeding the population the same bad news (rather than working to understand and correct problems) and they throw out the same old cure: "this bad - get rid of it" then toss in a little candy to sweeten the deal. The majority of voters have fallen in line like ducks to water or drunks to the bar. Others become apathetic and bow out - not voting: also good for the politicians. Fighting the fight means you are fighting uphill against a lot of people.

I find in most situations involving larger groups of people, if given a pure, simple, realistic solution and timetable, most people dont have the discpline, realistic view of themselves, respect and trust in others, or faith in themselves to make it work as intended. It becomes a broken wheel. In the situation of an intelligent, informed, considerate and benevolent dictator things can happen at a much faster rate. Unfortunately people like to think a democracy gives them some control, and even over things they terribly bad at, or careless with, people want control. That is part of human nature which has developed over decades and is taking a long time to break down to get back to simple basic understanding of oneself.

anyway... back to the fun and games of daily life...

p.s. good movie about human nature for all ages, and just a fun movie "Fantastic Mr. Fox" with George Clooney, Meryl Streep, etc... by Wes Anderson.

[Katharine]

I was right pissed when I heard about this. I'm a big journalism geek, which means I'm all for the free exchange of information. Not to mention I hate the social injustice of depriving the many to punish the few.

[blues2cruise]

In 1976 less than 1,000 people were on the internet. I saw that little factoid last night.

Amazing when you think about how many billions use it now.