Britain mulls banning social media

 

Social networking sites have fallen victim to the British Prime Minister’s irk after the worst unrest in a generation, as defined by UK authorities, rocked the country.

Prime Minister David Cameron made a statement to the parliament on Thursday warning to unleash a clampdown on social media including social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Research in Motion (Rim), the maker of BlackBerry devices.

Cameron said the government would consider banning people from social networks if they were suspected of inciting violence online.

The Prime Minister cautioned these social media that they should take more responsibility for content posted on their networks.

Britain was rocked by an unprecedented unrest in 30 years, which was sparked by the death of a black man in the London suburb of Tottenham.

Mark Duggan, 26, was killed in a shooting spree by armed officers in Ferry Lane in Tottenham last Thursday, after police stopped his minicab to carry out an arrest as part of a pre-planned operation.

The unrest erupted on Saturday when a few hundred people gathered outside a police station in Tottenham to protest the fatal shooting of the man.

The protests came during a deteriorating situation for Britons as the pain from economic stagnation is exacerbated by deep public spending cuts and tax increases aimed at eliminating a budget deficit that peaked at more than 10 percent of the GDP.

Scotland Yard said at least 1,200 people have been arrested for taking part in the street protests and the ensuing violence that jolted the country establishment to the core.

David Cameron’s threat to crack down on social networking sites comes as the UK government has always lectured itself as an advocate of freedom of expression and human rights.

The online version of almost all British newspapers including the Guardian, the Daily Telegraph, the Independent, etc. had, during the last year, created a link to Facebook for an unfiltered access to the Iranian users, accusing the Iranian government of blocking access to the Internet and violating freedom of expression and all these. But, now that their own country is faced with a nationwide protest against the government’s policies, having access to social networking sites is becoming a matter of national security concern. And, this is a complete British hypocrisy.

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