As many news outlets and websites are reporting, David Cameron said this yesterday in the House of Commons:
"Everyone watching these horrific actions will be stuck by how they were organised via social media. Free flow of information can be used for good. But it can also be used for ill.
"So we are working with the Police, the intelligence services and industry to look 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. I have also asked the police if they need any other new powers."
The horrific actions of rioters and looters around the country are terrible and there is no doubt that those involved should be charged under the full extent of the law. But as many have said yesterday, the Prime Minister cannot blame the technology that brought them together. In fact it is through social media and Blackberry messenger that people organized clean-ups, met for conversation and support, and communicated the wellbeing of others to friends and family.
Free speech, personal freedoms, and individual autonomy are at risk in suggesting that further surveillance and potential blocking of various types of communications. There is no doubt about this. The UK government has already suggested doing similar things through the Home Office's PREVENT strategy whereby they are suggesting that block websites in the interest of public safety.
But there is a more dangerous aspect to all of these discussions and that is the impact it has on startups and businesses. The very fact that the government is proposing to block technology under the guise of 'protection' sends a clear signal to all kinds of industries that the government is willing to create an uncertain business environment and on that doesn't necessarily rely on due process and the rule of law.
Businesses need freedom to conduct business under a certain regulatory framework that, over time, may change through the legislative and legal process. But businesses - and especially all start-ups - to remain certain that if the government is going to ask them to, say, shut down an aspect of their business that this will be done through the courts and with appropriate due process. Businesses, of course, should be in a dialogue with government anyway if there is a need to do so.
So while shutting off communication technologies or social media outlets may seem like a good idea to government in the immediate aftermath of a crisis, it is really bad idea for a fragile economy such as ours in the UK which needs to have risk takers, new start-ups, and business growth for future prosperity. Under the rhetoric of 'something must be done', the government should not circumvent the legal process in order to achieve its goals, but it should ensure that individual freedoms and due process continue to be in place so that the UK is a place people want to live, do business and prosper.