Should access to Twitter and Facebook be curbed when they're used to plot crime?

A young man uses his cell phone to take a picture of a car burning after it was set on fire by rioters in Hackney, east London, on Monday. (Lefteris Pitarakis/Associated Press)

British authorities are considering limiting access to communication tools such as Twitter, Facebook and BlackBerry Messenger when they are used to organize criminal activity such as the riots in England.

Prime Minister David Cameron said government, police and intelligence services are looking at "whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality."

"Free flow of information can be used for good," he told the House of Commons Thursday morning. "But it can also be used for ill. And when people are using social media for violence we need to stop them."

But digital media journalist Emma Barnett argues that non-rioters are relying the same social networks to protect themselves - and that limiting access would be a mistake.

"Over the last five days, Twitter has become the only place people could get up to the minute information about riot activity happening in their area," she wrote in the Telegraph.

Should government try to limit access to digital communications when they're being used to plot crime? Let us know what you think.



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