Street riots carefully coordinated via technology -- text messages and social 
-media networks -- may seem like a paradox. Expressions of rage are typically crude and spontaneous.
But in an age when everyone's connected, plugged-in protests, demonstrations and all-out mayhem, whether in Cairo's Tahrir Square or in the case of London's growing disturbances, are becoming more routine.
Assist From BBM?
Investigators in the United Kingdom believe coordinators of three days of protests -- ostensibly sparked by the shooting of a criminal suspect but fueled by rage over the cash-strapped government's cutbacks in social programs -- are using BlackBerry instant messages to pick which areas to target. That's an odd development given that BlackBerry devices are marketed toward upscale users and businesses rather than the working class.
Now Research In Motion, which makes the BlackBerry devices and runs the BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) system, has pledged to work with authorities to help crack down on the troublemakers.
"We feel for those impacted by this weekend's riots in London," said Patrick Spence, is RIM's global sales and regional marketing managing director. "We have engaged with the authorities to assist in any way we can. As in all markets around the world where BlackBerry is available, we cooperate with local telecommunications operators, law enforcement, and regulatory officials."
Gartner Research Vice President Carolina Milanesi, who is based in London, said the local media have featured some recent BBM messages related to the rioting and the police are monitoring Twitter for links to the culprits.
Cuts Both Ways
"The main purpose is to find out where people are gathering and where they are preparing to attack," she said. But the abundant presence of technology can also work against the rioters. "They are also using camera-phone pics released to the press to find looters and rioters," Milanesi noted.
Technology analyst Charles King of Pund-IT sees it as ironic that police in a democratic country are being forced to react to social media in the same way brutal regimes in turbulent states restore order.
"Weren't people bridling at the idea of government officials in Egypt, Libya and elsewhere shutting down web access and eavesdropping on citizens' communications?" King said. "And wasn't BlackBerry excoriated by some in the IT industry for working out a compromise with Arab governments that voiced concerns about the company securing its users' voice and e-mail?"
As the rioting spread from London to other areas on Monday, some 16,000 cops were deployed to try to quell the unrest.
"People have always used whatever technologies were available to facilitate communications of every kind," King said. "That the authorities feel the need to pressure providers like RIM for help is fully understandable, but it also demonstrates how slow and often inept the government is in understanding and responding to technological change."
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