Half of UK public back shut down of social networking sites during riots

Almost half of the UK public support the shutdown of social networks during periods of civil unrest and disorder, according to new research.

The survey comes after widespread rioting in cities across England in August  this year. Following the unrest Prime Minster David Cameron directly linked the England riots to social networks.

Although this was a move that was heavily criticised by free speech groups, the latest poll of 973 adults carried out by security firm Unisys found that 48 per cent of people would support a social network shutdown.

Of those surveyed, 46 per cent said that authorities should have open access to data about social network users in order to prevent coordinated criminal activity.

The survey also reveals a substantial age divide, with younger people less in favour of strict measures against social networks.

Only 28 per cent of people aged 18-24 supported a temporary shutdown of social networks during riots, compared to 60 per cent of people aged 65 and above. In general, the survey showed that younger people were less in favour of any measures to stymie social network use.

However following meetings with social networking companies in the summer, the Government said that it "did not seek any additional powers to close down social-media networks".

It is also unclear how such widespread blocking could be achieved.

Jonathan Polnay, a barrister in criminal law and member of the Bar Council's IT Committee said that technology was now moving faster than law-makers:

"We've seen discussions about libel and super-injunctions on Twitter; the use of social networking to coordinate civil unrest in UK cities and a series of high profile attacks on well-known companies which have led to loss of data. It is important that the law quickly evolves to address issues related to new technology."