7 posts and columns on riots

Computers Can See You — If You Have a Mug Shot

in Social on September 6, 2011 at 4:30 am PT

When rioters wreaked havoc on some U.K. cities last month, police deployed facial-recognition technology to try to identify some of the participants.

News Byte

San Francisco’s BART Subway Defends Protest-Stifling Cellphone Shutdown

in Mobile on August 13, 2011 at 5:40 am PT

Authorities said they shut down cellphone service on parts of San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit on Thursday night to stifle a planned protest on the subway system. A BART statement defended the move “as one of many tactics to ensure the safety of everyone on the platform.” The Electronic Frontier Foundation immediately described the move as a “Mubarak”; others noted the parallels with the United Kingdom’s proposal to limit phone and social media services in the wake of that country’s riots.

QOTD: Twitter All Ears About U.K. Muzzling Proposals

Our only comment is that if the government would like to talk about this we’d be happy to listen.

Twitter PR exec Rachel Bremer, responding to U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron’s trial balloon to limit access to Twitter, Facebook and communication technologies like BlackBerry Messenger in the aftermath of his country’s riots.

After Riots, U.K. Prime Minister Floats Social Media Crackdown

in News on August 11, 2011 at 6:35 am PT

“When people are using social media for violence we need to stop them.”
flickr riot twitter