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Rioters' access to social media could be stopped, Government says


The UK Government is investigating whether it can stop people communicating through social media if they are known to be planning riots, the Prime Minister has said.

David Cameron said people using social media for violence need to be stopped. Cameron made his comments in a statement in the House of Commons on the riots witnessed in cities across England since last week. Residents of London and other English cities have witnessed scenes of violence and disorder on the streets since last Thursday when a police officer shot dead Londoner Mark Duggan.

Rioters are thought to have used social media communications to coordinate their activity, which has included vandalising property, looting and fire-raising.

"Everyone watching these horrific actions will be stuck by how they were organised via social media," Cameron said in his statement.

"Free flow of information can be used for good. But it can also be used for ill. And when people are using social media for violence we need to stop them. 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," Cameron said.

Privacy campaigners the Open Rights Group (ORG) said it took Cameron's comments to mean that the Government was looking at ways to suspend communications accounts and said this could lead to abuses of the power.

"Events like the recent riots are frequently used to attack civil liberties," Jim Killock, executive director of the ORG, said in a statement sent to OUT-LAW.

"Policing should be targeted at actual offenders, with the proper protection of the courts. How do people ‘know’ when someone is planning to riot? Who makes that judgement? The only realistic answer is the courts must judge. If court procedures are not used, then we will quickly see abuses by private companies and police," Killock said.

"Citizens also have the right to secure communications. Business, politics and free speech relies on security and privacy. David Cameron must be careful not to attack these fundamental needs because of concerns about the actions of a small minority".

Killock said that Research In Motion (RIM) should insist on the Government going through due court processes.

RIM, which manufactures Blackberry mobile devices, confirmed earlier this week that it has "engaged with authorities" that are involved in tackling the riots. Messages posted through the social network Blackberry Messenger are thought to have helped organise some of the riots.

RIM said it complies with UK interception of communications laws and is co-operating with the police, but it has not precisely detailed what help it is providing in practice.

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) provides that the interception of communications is unlawful in most cases. However, the Act states that law enforcement agencies, including the police and MI5, can force telecoms companies to hand over customers' details in order to tap phone, internet or email communications to protect the UK's national security interests, prevent and detect terrorism and serious crime or to safeguard the UK's economic well-being.

Telecoms companies have a duty under RIPA to hand over communications data it has or could obtain about customers when asked to do so by police unless "it is not reasonably practicable" to do so. The Home Secretary can ask the courts to issue an injunction "or any other appropriate relief" against telecoms firms that fail to comply with their duty under RIPA. The type of injunction that courts can issue is not defined by RIPA.

Data protection law expert Kathryn Wynn, with Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind OUT-LAW said that court processes could be too slow to protect privacy when there is a pressing need to access communications data.

"You need to remove the element of a process, particularly where the situation is urgent, such as reacting to the planning of riots, which is why it has to be the technology that protects privacy and not the courts," Wynn said.

However Wynn said that RIM and other telecoms companies will face the problem of identifying riot suspects without invading the privacy of innocent individuals.

"Social media providers could be put in a Catch 22 situation unless there is suitable technology to help them identify suspected rioters," Wynn said.

"The companies cannot suspend users from a service unless they know specific identifying information about them, but equally they cannot identify users without looking through communications to identify those inciting public disorder. It seems unlikely that there is a technological system in place for being able to identify suspects without infringing the privacy of innocent people by conducting what could, depending on the specific circumstances, be viewed as a disproportionate and unreasonable search through high volumes of messages in order to find suspects and stop them communicating."

"Even operating filters to flag up message-senders that use specific words relating to the organising of riots could lead to innocent individuals' accounts being suspended. The problems with RIPA and the limitations of disclosure will still exist despite what Cameron seems to be proposing," Wynn said.

Theresa May, the UK Home Secretary is said to be meeting representatives of RIM and other social networks Facebook and Twitter to discuss what they can do to help combat the unrest, according to a BBC report.

Technology law news is also available from Bootlaw, a free resource for technology start-ups, with regular events hosted by Pinsent Masons.

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