Darwinian justice
Most sensible people - as opposed to posturing politicians and frothing reactionaries - view the use of BBM and social networking to coordinate crime and civil disobedience as incidental. They were merely communication tools rather than outright enablers.
Yes, modern technology has made it easier for everyone - criminals included - to communicate and coordinate their efforts, but if you're going to try to ban social networking, you might as well have a go at emails and phone calls too.
As we explored yesterday, social networking can also be used to catch baddies too, and today sees another example of why it's probably best to let people use Facebook to arrange crimes, and thus publicly incriminate themselves.
The Beeb reports that two young Cheshire men had used Facebook to coordinate riots a week ago. One even created a special Facebook event called "Smash d[o]wn in Northwich Town", and the police were alerted to these incitements by members of the public. The two were sentenced to four years in prison, despite being previously of good character and pleading guilty.
While these two committed a clear crime, they're also guilty of bad timing and being caught at a time when the justice system wants to hand out some strong sentences pour encourager les autres. They're also guilty of being mind-bogglingly stupid. Either they didn't think they were committing a crime, or they didn't realise Facebook was public.
Either way they presented themselves as an easy reward for a legal system desperate to show it's not entirely impotent. It's starting to look like Facebook will be a useful tool for making easy cops and weeding-out the most incompetent, opportunistic part-time criminals.
