Twitter, Law Enforcement & Social Networking: Now and... Tomorrow?

At the London G-20, the Guardian, the Telegraph, Al-Jazeera and other mainstream media used Twitter to provide continuous updates on how things were going. So did the protest organizers. And, so did the police...and the secret agents?

Per the Telegraph, "In the weeks leading up to the G20 summit, the police have been monitoring these sites in an effort to stay one step ahead of the protesters. One senior officer warned it could turn in to a "cat and mouse" game around the streets of London, with police trying to stop incidents, organised hastily and online, as they flare up... Marina Pepper, one of the organisers of G20 Meltdown, said that Twitter was a key tool in terms of “mobilising people and shifting them around”, because it allows people to file and read updates via their mobile phones."

What we saw in London, however, was a police force that knew what was coming, had trained and prepared for it, and was no stranger to very large and disruptive protests. So, what happens when something similar happens where there is no training or preparation? Moldova. Twitter's role is under debate, but there is consensus that a variety of social media was used by protest organizers. An extended article on Moldova is not intended, social media was used. To protest anywhere in Eastern Europe requires a more guts than it does in the west, as the police have no qualms whatsoever about using excessive force.




So, for the above to happen, even if violence was not the objective of the organizers, is more than noteworthy. These films don't show all of the damage that was done to the parliamentary building, suffice that the entire first three floors were pretty much dismantled. If they don't have computerized records, it will take decades to get all of their paperwork back in order. Police and Fire departments throughout the United States have started using Twitter and other social media to connect with their communities. That's realistic and progressive, something you would expect to see in the United States, Moldova's response was simply to shut down local internet service providers, thereby cutting off the majority's access to Twitter messages. In the United States, doing that might actually cause a riot...

The point is, that organizationally, it is increasingly important for someone to have their thumb on the pulse of social networking tools, techniques and methodologies, now. Thirty years ago, the idea of a small business having a computer was unbelievable. In 1998, even into 2001, people still thought the Internet was just a fad, and early on said the same about some social networking venues. Yet, the Internet has effectively brought down some of the most prestigious mainstream newspapers in the country, is pulling revenue from both radio and television. If you really want to get deep into the understanding of technological bellcurves, development and proliferation, you might try to pick up Ray Kurzweil's "Age of Spiritual Machines" to see exactly where we are headed. Here are some excerpts. He's quite possibly one of the most intelligent people you will ever learn about, alongside Stephen Hawking, working in the development of Singularity University, a joint effort between Google and NASA.

Whatever is going on with the Internet now will only be more pervasive in five years, the names may change, but the essential dynamics don't. Observe the trends and think how they will play out in five more years. Yes, there's enough to worry about the way things are today, but it is the fixation on the near term that really got us into this global financial mess - and it is so big that it will require a lot of long-term planning to sort out.