London: British police has vowed to track down
and arrest protesters who posted "inflammatory" and
"inaccurate" messages on BlackBerry Messenger service, Twitter
and Facebook during three days of rioting in London.
For looters and rioters the communication tool of choice
has apparently been BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) which acted as
their private, encrypted social network for rallying around
potential targets.
The Scotland Yard said it is tracking down the persons who
posted "really inflammatory and inaccurate" messages on social
media, that was used to organise and coordinate the riots in
London.
BBM, as it is known is an instant messaging application,
allows users to communicate in a similar way as text
messaging, but effectively without charge, as traffic is
exchanged via the Internet.
Research in Motion, maker of the BlackBerry, in a
statement said it would cooperate with a police investigation
into claims that its popular messenger service played a key
role in organising the riots.
Although Twitter and Facebook have played a key role in
past unrest in the capital, the Tottenham riots are thought to
be the first in the UK so heavily orchestrated using
BlackBerry Messanger.
PTI
