Yesterday over at The Social Times I wrote a post on how gangs are recruiting youth through social networks. It seems our friends across the pond (the Atlantic) are having a similar problem but with extremist Muslim groups instead. Today the Edinburgh Journal is running a story about creating jihads through Facebook.
The story, by Miles Johnson, claims that the banned Al Muhajiroun extremist group has been operating a private Facebook group that is being used to spread hate. The group has several British students as members and even included employees at the financial services company Citigroup.
The group has posted links to extremist propaganda written by jailed authors. I am not certain what the laws are in England, but in the US much of these writings would be classified as hate speech. Hate speech is not protected by freedom of speech because it incites direct action and propagates violence.
It will be interesting to see how British authorities handle this situation. Will the government see being part of a Facebook group as an actual affiliation? If the government decides to pursue this case, it could set some interesting precedent for Facebook.
Think about it like this: If the British government decides to say that joining a Facebook group is the same as joining an extremist group in the real world, it may cause a great deal of people to take a moment of pause when deciding what Facebook groups they join.
What if you joined a Facebook group that was labeled illegal by the government, should you face criminal charges? Should the government consider digital affiliation the same as physical? I don’t know. We see a great deal of change in the laws regarding digital rights and digital representation. I guess this is just one more example of laws having to play catch up.
Do you think the government should actively pursue banning certain Facebook groups?
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"What if you joined a Facebook group that was labeled illegal by the government, should you face criminal charges?"Surely you jest. Nobody is talking about using that info alone to arrest people. Don't give big brother any ideas.
Comment by Jonathan Kleiman — February 15, 2008 @ 1:41 pm
"What if you joined a Facebook group that was labeled illegal by the government, should you face criminal charges?"
Surely you jest. Nobody is talking about using that info alone to arrest people. Don't give big brother any ideas.
Comment by Jonathan Kleiman — February 15, 2008 @ 2:41 pm
Depends what kind of group is there. If it's really innappropriate and bothering somebody's life.then sure .but if it's only regular group made by college students…like party people or college friends or something they i don't think they should face criminal charges.
Comment by Palwinder Kaur — February 26, 2008 @ 8:59 pm
Depends what kind of group is there. If it's really innappropriate and bothering somebody's life.then sure .but if it's only regular group made by college students…like party people or college friends or something they i don't think they should face criminal charges.
Comment by Palwinder Kaur — February 26, 2008 @ 9:59 pm
Thanks for posing a great question. As virtual and actual worlds converge, we need to ask these things because said convergence proposes a new synthesis. Since you asked, I don't believe it will be clear cut for criminal groups because, in the U.S., I don't believe one can be condemned just by a mere association with a group. One in innocent until proven guilty of a crime. I'm uncertain of the law regarding "banned" groups. I would be shocked that affiliation itself would be a crime. Regarding online, probably mere affiliation would not be grounds for prosecution, but the amount and type of activity would probably be taken into account. How many posts, replies and on what subject? How do they map to offline criminal activity?Just my two cents!
Comment by Christopher Rollyson — February 28, 2008 @ 6:22 pm
Thanks for posing a great question. As virtual and actual worlds converge, we need to ask these things because said convergence proposes a new synthesis. Since you asked, I don't believe it will be clear cut for criminal groups because, in the U.S., I don't believe one can be condemned just by a mere association with a group. One in innocent until proven guilty of a crime. I'm uncertain of the law regarding "banned" groups. I would be shocked that affiliation itself would be a crime.
Regarding online, probably mere affiliation would not be grounds for prosecution, but the amount and type of activity would probably be taken into account. How many posts, replies and on what subject? How do they map to offline criminal activity?
Just my two cents!
Comment by Christopher Rollyson — February 28, 2008 @ 7:22 pm
I once had an insane neighbor who was very over the top, and many came to me asking me why I didn't turn her in. With conviction I stated that, she was so bad off that it would be such an extreme short of time before authorities carted her away on their own authority, they didn't need me to point that out.
Sure enough and sadly enough that is what happened and there left was a boy without an Aunt and a mother who had recently passed. With all the energy that had been expended against this boy's Aunt, in the end at the age of nine, the community said he could not be rehabilitated and that he was damaged goods.
I don't know where I am going with this other than to say he had no family now, and his own country didn't care much for him either.
So do we hound people on the net. I am sick and tired of porn, cyber sex services. I find it unconsciounable that it still exists here on the internet. Having said this much great way to catch the bad guys cause eventually they need the real thing and they will get caught.
Comment by Isabelle — March 22, 2008 @ 1:43 pm
I once had an insane neighbor who was very over the top, and many came to me asking me why I didn't turn her in. With conviction I stated that, she was so bad off that it would be such an extreme short of time before authorities carted her away on their own authority, they didn't need me to point that out.Sure enough and sadly enough that is what happened and there left was a boy without an Aunt and a mother who had recently passed. With all the energy that had been expended against this boy's Aunt, in the end at the age of nine, the community said he could not be rehabilitated and that he was damaged goods.I don't know where I am going with this other than to say he had no family now, and his own country didn't care much for him either.So do we hound people on the net. I am sick and tired of porn, cyber sex services. I find it unconsciounable that it still exists here on the internet. Having said this much great way to catch the bad guys cause eventually they need the real thing and they will get caught.
Comment by Isabelle — March 22, 2008 @ 1:43 pm