Facebook and Twitter to help police track riots

Instead, as well as improving their monitoring capabilities, police agreed at
the meeting that the process they use to report illegal web content to
service providers, known as the “single point of contact”, could be used
more effectively.

Currently, counter-terrorism and child protection officers are trained better
in the laws and website small print that can be used to get Facebook and
Twitter to take down messages. Ministers and senior police at the meeting
said that this “best practice” should be spread to public order policing.

“The discussions looked at how law enforcement and the networks can build on
the existing relationships and cooperation to prevent the networks being
used for criminal behaviour,” a Home Office spokesman said.

At least five people have been convicted of inciting riots on Facebook since
the disturbances, including two
men in Cheshire who each received a four-year prison sentence.

Social networks have been keen, however, to highlight the role they played in
community clean-up and fundraising initiatives. Volunteers in Hackney,
Tottenham, Wandsworth and elsewhere used Facebook and Twitter to organise
teams of locals armed with brooms to sweep the streets, and to collect
donations to help the owners of looted shops.

“We welcome the fact that this was a dialogue about working together to keep
people safe rather than about imposing new restrictions on internet
services,” a Facebook spokesman said.

“We were also able to revisit the positive role Facebook played during the
riots – from letting friends and family know they are safe to helping
facilitate local clean-up operations.”

A spokesman for RIM, the BlackBerry maker, said: “It was a positive and
productive meeting and we were pleased to consult on the use of social media
to engage and communicate during times of emergency.

“RIM continues to maintain an open and positive dialogue with the UK
authorities and continues to operate within the context of UK regulations.”

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