Female Focus
Page 29 When technology goes bad. by A.G.
I think most people were shocked and saddened by the recent riots back in the UK. It seemed a sense of lawlessness had descended upon the land. What startled most people was the speed at which the rioters gathered and how they organised themselves. How could such a disgraceful ‘rabble’ be so effective?
Well, it’s clear now that technology had a huge part to play in matters, with the culprits being Facebook, Twitter and Blackberry Messaging.
Facebook is, as everybody knows, a great way to stay in touch with those
friends who you can’t immediately share a coffee with. It’s great to catch up with old friends and reminisce on the past.
When it comes to organising people, it’s been used to organise ‘fl ashmobs’ which are where a couple of hundred people gather in a place at a given time and do something entertaining. Just put FLASHMOB into Youtube and you’ll see what I mean. But the same quick organisation also applies to mobs who wish to cause violence.
In fact the courts recently lifted the anonymity on Johnny Melfah, a 16-year old boy who admitted theft and criminal damage on his Facebook page!
Instant messenger systems are great for sending short messages. They even seem to have their own language. If I want to confi rm meeting up with you, I might type CU2NITE:) and send a text message. Blackberry has its own messenger service (BBM) which is free to blackberry users, and private. IT means that it’s not easy to snoop on. It is so evident that this was a major contributor, that the UK government has arranged serious discussion with senior managers at Blackberry to see if the service can be switched off on request! Of course that’s not too far removed from phone hacking and we all know where that got the News of the World! I expect there will be some very interesting conversations in the halls of Government and elsewhere over the coming months! In the meantime, enjoy all that’s good about Facebook etc, and don’t forget to look up those flashmob videos on Youtube, they’ll bring a smile to your face I’m sure!
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