The london and vancouver riots and the role of social networking
Police react to the rioting in North London.
On August 4, 2011 London police shot and killed 29 year old Mark Duggan, a father of four from Tottenham in North London, a suspected drug dealer, while attempting to make an arrest. Rumors began to circulate that Duggan was unarmed at the time. The shooting sparked a peaceful protest in Tottenham but soon afterwards the rioting began and spread to Birmingham, Liverpool, Nottingham and Bristol. Several days of widespread rioting and looting which included setting fires to buildings and vehicles continued. But, what continued to fuel the riots was social media and in particular Twitter and Blackberries. Both were blamed for being used as a source for the continuing criminal activity.
As the police attempted to gain control of the rioting what became apparent is the use of networking and social media both spread the news of the rioting and fueled the rioting at the same time. The police were caught off guard in trying to confirm the intelligence they were receiving from both social media and internal intelligence and “many rioters were using BlackBerry Messenger, which they believed to be encrypted, to share information about locations. Police have confirmed they were unable to access these messages, and were left trying to decipher publicly available information
circulating on the Internet” (Halliday, pg.1). Officers were left to sort rumors from facts which lead to confusion about where to place resources. Rioters were even using Craigslist and eBay to sell the items that were stolen which lead eBay to make a statement that they were working with the police to prevent stolen items from being listed on their website (Horn, pg. 1).
As the police attempted to gain control of the rioting what became apparent is the use of networking and social media both spread the news of the rioting and fueled the rioting at the same time. The police were caught off guard in trying to confirm the intelligence they were receiving from both social media and internal intelligence and “many rioters were using BlackBerry Messenger, which they believed to be encrypted, to share information about locations. Police have confirmed they were unable to access these messages, and were left trying to decipher publicly available information
circulating on the Internet” (Halliday, pg.1). Officers were left to sort rumors from facts which lead to confusion about where to place resources. Rioters were even using Craigslist and eBay to sell the items that were stolen which lead eBay to make a statement that they were working with the police to prevent stolen items from being listed on their website (Horn, pg. 1).
Twitter has become very popular in the United Kingdom where, “the traditional media have recently begun to use it both as a source for information and as a dissemination platform” (Tonkin, Pfeiffer & Tourte).
Emma Tonkin is part of a group of social scientists tracking online conversations in the hopes of making sense of how they affect real world events. After the London riots, The Guardian newspaper collaborated with researchers from the London School of Economics to study whether social media had contributed to the riots, interviewing arrested looters, reviewing court records, and harvesting 2.6 million tweets. Tonkin states that, “extracting meaning from social media is no easy task. In the case of Twitter, the enforced brevity gives rise to an abbreviated language that can baffle computer analysis. Tonkin adds that computers have no sense of humor. For example, “I am going to destroy that city,” which sounds like terrorism to American ears but in Britain signals the intention to get drunk on holiday” (Bohannon, pg. 1). Tonkin acknowledges that their tools are not enough yet and that researchers must still use human eyes to reality check social media data. Twitter users generate more than 200 million tweets per day and it was crucial to find what is relevant but it was a bit easier because Twitter users organize their conversations with easily searchable hashtags, such as #londonriots. Tonkin was surprised at how visual the conversations were and that about half the tweets contained web links which led to photographs of the riots (Bohannon, pg. 1).
By a majority of 37% British teens prefer BlackBerry handsets according to an Ofcom study because it allows it allows users to send one message or many messages to their network of contacts that are connected by “BBM Pins”. BBM has replaced text messaging because it is free, instant and more part of a much larger community than regular SMS. Unlike Twitter or Facebook, many BBM messages are untraceable by the authorities and one of the messages which had been shown to the Guardian by multiple sources, read “everyone from all sides of London to vandalize shops on Oxford Street” (www.guardian.co.uk).
As the British authorities tried to gain control, the idea of blocking access to social media was discussed. British officials and representatives of Twitter, Facebook and Blackberry met to discuss ways to limit or restrict the use of social media to stop the civil unrest. Prime Minister David Cameron called for stronger controls on social media as looters used networks to outmaneuver the police. The Prime Minister’s request was received with mixed reviews as some saw it as a censorship others felt that restoring order was a higher priority. Research in Motion, which is the company behind BlackBerrys, was threatened by a group of hackers that if RIM cooperated with the police, they would publish personal data of RIM employees. The hackers, who called themselves “Team Poison” defaced the official Blackberry blog and posted messages threatening further retaliation. Team Poison felt that, “innocent members of the public who were at the wrong place at the wrong time and owned a Blackberry will get charged for no reason at all” (Ashford, pg.1).
London was not the only city to see rioting during 2011 and the use of social media. When the hometown NHL Vancouver Canucks lost game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals to the Boston Bruins, drunken fans took to the streets and began rioting. Cars were torched, windows smashed, and The Bay, a high end department store in Vancouver, was especially targeted as looters made away with expensive handbags and clothing. The use of social media in Vancouver aided the police in tracking down looters as people began posting their tweets, images and videos of the rioters. Encouraged by the Vancouver police, citizens created a Tumblr account where people could submit their photos of people they saw looting or vandalizing and others could view them and identify anyone that they recognized. In the UK, a Tumblr account, Catch a Looter, had also been opened in an effort to catch and prosecute looters. Five days after the June 15th riots the police had received 3,500 emails that included 53 videos, 708 photographs and 1,011 hyperlinks to social media websites such as Facebook (Swallow, pg.1).
London was not the only city to see rioting during 2011 and the use of social media. When the hometown NHL Vancouver Canucks lost to the Boston Bruins in game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals, drunken fans took to the streets and began rioting. Cars were torched, windows smashed. The Bay, a high end department store in Vancouver, was especially targeted as looters made away with expensive handbags and clothing. The use of social media in Vancouver aided the police in tracking down looters as people began posting their tweets, images and videos of the
rioters. Encouraged by the Vancouver police, citizens created a Tumblr account where people could submit
their photos of people they saw looting or vandalizing and others could view them and identify anyone that they recognized. In the UK, a Tumblr account, Catch a Looter, had also been opened in an effort to catch and prosecute looters. Five days after the June 15th riots, the police had received 3,500 emails that included 53 videos, 708 photographs and 1,011 hyperlinks to social media websites such as Facebook (Ryan. pg 2).
There has been backlash both the families of rioters and business owners have had to contend with. Posting pictures do not tell the whole story and Nathan Kotylak, a member of Canada’s junior Olympics water-polo team, was photographed apparently setting fire to a Vancouver police car. Kotylak apologized and was suspended from the team but his parents were threatened and were forced to leave their home when their address appeared online. His father is a surgeon and had to close his business for a period of time due to the hostility aim at his family. With so many people posting images and the reactions to the riots, the hostilities towards the rioters escaladed. Kotylak, a minor, sought permission to come forward and name himself and besides being suspended from the national water polo team he did not attend his high school ceremony. Christopher Schneider, a UBC sociologist and expert in criminology and social media stated that, “the massive online reaction to the Vancouver riots is unprecedented and potentially as groundbreaking as WikiLeaks. There will be a lot of fallout, as we will probably see a lot of case law coming out of this. It will also, perhaps, change the way citizens’ move in the virtual world, forever. The mob mentality has moved into cyberspace for the first time. Many of the comments are horrific, threatening things that these people might not normally say. There is profound disconnect between who we are online and in life. We are still learning how to be cyber citizens” (Ryan, pg. 2). Further video went on to show that Nathan Kotylak did not set fire to the car and other citizens did turn themselves in to face the consequences of their actions and companies were left to do damage control as some or the rioters were their employees. Even people that were innocent did not escape unharmed because due to Photoshopping, some people were intentionally and maliciously misidentified as rioters.
Social media was also used to organize the cleanup of London. The @RiotCleanup Twitter page had more than 50,000 followers broadcasting the locations and times of cleanup areas along with other information.
Emma Tonkin is part of a group of social scientists tracking online conversations in the hopes of making sense of how they affect real world events. After the London riots, The Guardian newspaper collaborated with researchers from the London School of Economics to study whether social media had contributed to the riots, interviewing arrested looters, reviewing court records, and harvesting 2.6 million tweets. Tonkin states that, “extracting meaning from social media is no easy task. In the case of Twitter, the enforced brevity gives rise to an abbreviated language that can baffle computer analysis. Tonkin adds that computers have no sense of humor. For example, “I am going to destroy that city,” which sounds like terrorism to American ears but in Britain signals the intention to get drunk on holiday” (Bohannon, pg. 1). Tonkin acknowledges that their tools are not enough yet and that researchers must still use human eyes to reality check social media data. Twitter users generate more than 200 million tweets per day and it was crucial to find what is relevant but it was a bit easier because Twitter users organize their conversations with easily searchable hashtags, such as #londonriots. Tonkin was surprised at how visual the conversations were and that about half the tweets contained web links which led to photographs of the riots (Bohannon, pg. 1).
By a majority of 37% British teens prefer BlackBerry handsets according to an Ofcom study because it allows it allows users to send one message or many messages to their network of contacts that are connected by “BBM Pins”. BBM has replaced text messaging because it is free, instant and more part of a much larger community than regular SMS. Unlike Twitter or Facebook, many BBM messages are untraceable by the authorities and one of the messages which had been shown to the Guardian by multiple sources, read “everyone from all sides of London to vandalize shops on Oxford Street” (www.guardian.co.uk).
As the British authorities tried to gain control, the idea of blocking access to social media was discussed. British officials and representatives of Twitter, Facebook and Blackberry met to discuss ways to limit or restrict the use of social media to stop the civil unrest. Prime Minister David Cameron called for stronger controls on social media as looters used networks to outmaneuver the police. The Prime Minister’s request was received with mixed reviews as some saw it as a censorship others felt that restoring order was a higher priority. Research in Motion, which is the company behind BlackBerrys, was threatened by a group of hackers that if RIM cooperated with the police, they would publish personal data of RIM employees. The hackers, who called themselves “Team Poison” defaced the official Blackberry blog and posted messages threatening further retaliation. Team Poison felt that, “innocent members of the public who were at the wrong place at the wrong time and owned a Blackberry will get charged for no reason at all” (Ashford, pg.1).
London was not the only city to see rioting during 2011 and the use of social media. When the hometown NHL Vancouver Canucks lost game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals to the Boston Bruins, drunken fans took to the streets and began rioting. Cars were torched, windows smashed, and The Bay, a high end department store in Vancouver, was especially targeted as looters made away with expensive handbags and clothing. The use of social media in Vancouver aided the police in tracking down looters as people began posting their tweets, images and videos of the rioters. Encouraged by the Vancouver police, citizens created a Tumblr account where people could submit their photos of people they saw looting or vandalizing and others could view them and identify anyone that they recognized. In the UK, a Tumblr account, Catch a Looter, had also been opened in an effort to catch and prosecute looters. Five days after the June 15th riots the police had received 3,500 emails that included 53 videos, 708 photographs and 1,011 hyperlinks to social media websites such as Facebook (Swallow, pg.1).
London was not the only city to see rioting during 2011 and the use of social media. When the hometown NHL Vancouver Canucks lost to the Boston Bruins in game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals, drunken fans took to the streets and began rioting. Cars were torched, windows smashed. The Bay, a high end department store in Vancouver, was especially targeted as looters made away with expensive handbags and clothing. The use of social media in Vancouver aided the police in tracking down looters as people began posting their tweets, images and videos of the
rioters. Encouraged by the Vancouver police, citizens created a Tumblr account where people could submit
their photos of people they saw looting or vandalizing and others could view them and identify anyone that they recognized. In the UK, a Tumblr account, Catch a Looter, had also been opened in an effort to catch and prosecute looters. Five days after the June 15th riots, the police had received 3,500 emails that included 53 videos, 708 photographs and 1,011 hyperlinks to social media websites such as Facebook (Ryan. pg 2).
There has been backlash both the families of rioters and business owners have had to contend with. Posting pictures do not tell the whole story and Nathan Kotylak, a member of Canada’s junior Olympics water-polo team, was photographed apparently setting fire to a Vancouver police car. Kotylak apologized and was suspended from the team but his parents were threatened and were forced to leave their home when their address appeared online. His father is a surgeon and had to close his business for a period of time due to the hostility aim at his family. With so many people posting images and the reactions to the riots, the hostilities towards the rioters escaladed. Kotylak, a minor, sought permission to come forward and name himself and besides being suspended from the national water polo team he did not attend his high school ceremony. Christopher Schneider, a UBC sociologist and expert in criminology and social media stated that, “the massive online reaction to the Vancouver riots is unprecedented and potentially as groundbreaking as WikiLeaks. There will be a lot of fallout, as we will probably see a lot of case law coming out of this. It will also, perhaps, change the way citizens’ move in the virtual world, forever. The mob mentality has moved into cyberspace for the first time. Many of the comments are horrific, threatening things that these people might not normally say. There is profound disconnect between who we are online and in life. We are still learning how to be cyber citizens” (Ryan, pg. 2). Further video went on to show that Nathan Kotylak did not set fire to the car and other citizens did turn themselves in to face the consequences of their actions and companies were left to do damage control as some or the rioters were their employees. Even people that were innocent did not escape unharmed because due to Photoshopping, some people were intentionally and maliciously misidentified as rioters.
Social media was also used to organize the cleanup of London. The @RiotCleanup Twitter page had more than 50,000 followers broadcasting the locations and times of cleanup areas along with other information.