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   May hosts social network meeting over riots
Social networking executives and senior police officers are to meet with the home secretary to discuss the recent riots in cities and towns across England. Theresa May announced she will hold the meeting with chiefs from Facebook, Twitter and Blackberry after suggestions that sites should be shut down during such disturbances to prevent trouble spreading. The networks faced criticism during the riots after it emerged they have been used to plan some of the disorder. The agenda will focus on whether users of the sites should be blocked when they are seen to be planning violence or criminality. Delegates from Facebook, Twitter and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion will also meet with Lynne Owens, assistant commissioner of central operations at the Metropolitan Police. May will lead the private meeting along with crime and security minister James Brokenshire. A home office spokesperson said the discussions would explore "whether and how we should be able to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality". "Social networking is not a cause of the recent disturbances but a means of enabling criminals to communicate. "We are working with the police to see what action can be taken to prevent access to those services by customers identified as perpetrators of disorder or other criminal action." Facebook said it has already worked to review its content. A spokesperson said: "We look forward to meeting with the home secretary to explain the measures we have been taking to ensure that Facebook is a safe and positive platform for people in the UK at this challenging time." Following the riots, prime minister David Cameron told the Commons that the government was speaking to the industry and police to establish how to stop the internet being a tool for troublemakers to organise disruption. Meanwhile, analysis from the Guardian revealed that of more than 2.5 million riot-related tweets, sent between 6 August and 17 August, appears to show Twitter was mainly used to react to riots and looting, including organising the street clean-up. Source: epolitix.com Copyright Dods Parliamentary Ltd Photo: Theresa May, Home Secretary
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