In the wake of the flash mob riots earlier this year in London, Scotland Yard arrested two teens for “inciting riots” on Facebook. Then two weeks later they arrested ten more. Eventually, two men were sentenced to four years in prison for inciting riots on Facebook:
The two men were convicted for using Facebook to encourage violent disorder in their hometowns in northwest England.
Blackshaw created a Facebook event entitled “Smash d[o]wn in Northwich Town” for August 8 but only the police showed up, and arrested him. Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan posted a Facebook page entitled “The Warrington Riots” on August 9 but took it down the next day, when he woke up with a hangover. The idea has started out as a misguided joke between the two men, according to the BBC.
They both pleaded guilty and were found guilty under sections 44 and 46 of the Serious Crime Act to intentionally encourage another to assist the commission of an indictable offence. The duo admitted to encouraging crime and causing a very real panic in their Cheshire towns at a time when the UK was not at its best. The four year sentence is the longest that has been issued in relation to last week’s riots and as such has sparked much controversy since the men had no previous convictions, did not participate in any violence themselves, and the riots they tried to incite never actually broke out.
In conjunction with citizen driven sites like Catch A Looter, police in the UK used Facebook and other social media to track down the online provocateurs. This is not an isolated case; there is a growing movement among police to have offices fight crime with Facebook. As citizens the world over continue to migrate online and use their social networks to communicate and organize activities ranging from study groups to revolutions, so too will law enforcement. Online activity should never be looked at as private or concealed. There are steps one can take to conceal your digital wake, but they are not foolproof. And they’re certainly not going to protect your identity when you go around logging into social networking site s with your real identity.
Protesting Income Inequality? Bring Your $500 Smartphone
Back here in the States, we have our own strain of political and social unrest growing at the moment, namely the Occupy Wall Street/99% crowd. You can follow along at #ows. You can be sure the police are as well. Things are peaceable enough – for now. But arrests are being made nonetheless when protestors step out of line. The response? Develop an Android App that instantly sends out mass SMS, dubbed “I”m Getting Arrested”:
I’m Getting Arrested is a creative Android app that, according to developer Quadrant 2, was inspired by a real-life “Occupy Wall Street” incident. It lets you quickly notify your family, friends, and crack legal team (if you have one) of your situation with a single tap of your finger. Just initially enter a custom message and some SMS-ready numbers to contact in the event of your arrest. Then, as you’re about to be corralled into the back of a squad car, fire the app up and long-press the bull’s-eye for 2 seconds. From there, you can rest assured that your message will be sent to the appropriate contacts.
Users on other sites have complained of a lack of social media integration (Twitter & Facebook, no mention of poor Google+), and instant GPS geo-tagging. Though other users quickly pointed out that you can send messages to your Twitter and Facebook accounts via SMS. A lack of instant geo-tagging could certainly be fixed with a future version. The real trick is getting your phone out and being able to click fast enough before you’re arrested.
At least you’ll be ready for the McRevolution.
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