Blowhard UK MP Says Ban Twitter Because Grandstanding Is Fun

from the not-gonna-happen dept

Mon, Mar 25th 2013 12:54pm — Timothy Geigner

The UK seems to have a rather interesting relationship with Twitter for some reason. For the purposes of this discussion, recall that UK police have demanded the deletion of photos from the microblogging site before, in some attempt to have the internet forget certain things happened. Also, keep handy the knowledge that, in the UK, you can apparently be jailed for acting like a jackass on Twitter.

With that in mind, it's ironic that acting like a jackass in government gets you a job as an MP. Such is the case, at least, with George Galloway, who is calling for a ban on Twitter nation-wide until the site agrees to fully cooperate with UK police in all of their many deluded demands.

Filing the motion named "Twitter and the detection of crime", the MP believes the social-networking site should defer to UK authorities or be sanctioned by the Government – those sanctions involving a ban on the service.

"Twitter is now a very widely used mode of social networking; is a US-based enterprise whose primary motivation is to maximise its profits; Twitter is now used for a variety of criminal activities including sending malicious communications," reads the filing.

Non-Brits like myself will recognize this tactic of wanting to ban services that don't bend over a barrel for local police, having seen it so many times with services like Craig's List. In the case of Twitter, the company already complies with police requests that are matters of life or death and does so voluntarily. What they don't allow is law enforcement to go on fishing expeditions in non-serious matters. Now, should you think that such petty action by UK LEOs is unlikely, please keep in your mind all the links provided above. Were I Twitter, I wouldn't want to open up that can of worms either.

Luckily, that prevailing opinion is that Mr. Galloway is simply trying to draw media attention to himself. The Parliament's own website concurs.

"Although there is very little prospect of EDMs being debated, many attract a great deal of public interest and frequently receive media coverage," claims the website, whilst summarising, "The majority will attract only one or two signatures."

Given Mr. Galloway's rather, ahem, colorful history, I suppose we shouldn't be surprised by such a move on his part. That said, fear not, my dear Brits, Twitter will remain for now.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: censorship, free speech, george galloway
Companies: twitter

17 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Duke (profile), 25 Mar 2013 @ 12:10pm

Details of the EDM
For anyone interested, the full text of the EDM, along with the two signatories, can be found here (emphasis added):

That this House notes that Twitter is now a very widely used mode of social networking; further notes that Twitter is a US-based enterprise whose primary motivation is to maximise its profits; further notes that Twitter is now used for a variety of criminal activities including sending malicious communications; further notes that Twitter refuses to co-operate with the UK authorities in general and the police in particular in trying to detect the source of criminal communications 'unless it is a matter of life and death', to be determined by Twitter; believes that this failure to co-operate with the detection of the sources of criminal behaviour is reprehensible; and calls on the Government to impose sanctions on Twitter until it agrees to fully co-operate with the UK authorities and police in the detection of crime.
So just the usual grandstanding. I'm not even sure if that is Twitter's policy, and whether or not they do co-operate when required to by law - there are, of course, criminal offences with not aiding the police where required and impeding their progress etc., but I don't know how broad they are.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Planespotter (profile), 25 Mar 2013 @ 12:59pm

Thankfully George Galloway is one of the most disliked MPs in the UK and very few people actually agree with a word he says.

This >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1NIuCt72bU is what we appear to call and MP in this country!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Zakida Paul (profile), 25 Mar 2013 @ 12:59pm

George Galloway is full of these little tidbits. He has some interesting views on a wide range of issues.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 25 Mar 2013 @ 1:02pm

all this shows is that UK politicians are about as intelligent as those in the USA. dont understand something, cant control something, broadcast as much bull shit about as possible and get it shut down. thick as fuck!!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 25 Mar 2013 @ 1:04pm

Re:
Nah, Galloway is "special" like Fred.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 25 Mar 2013 @ 1:12pm

George Galloway is a self publicising joke. How anyone take take him seriously as a human being never-mind a Member of Parliament is beyond me. Just a few weeks ago he walked out of a debate at at Christ Church college, Oxford University saying the that "I don't debate with Israelis. I don't recognise Israel."

BTW the debate motion was "Israel should withdraw immediately from the West Bank" Who the hell did he think he would be debating when he agreed to turn-up?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1NIuCt72bU
[ link to this | view in thread ]
jameshogg (profile), 25 Mar 2013 @ 1:14pm

Fucking George Galloway. The tit. The pimp for Saddam Hussein. How the fuck is this piss stain still being taken seriously at all?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=IAAi9CG7WW0
[ link to this | view in thread ]
usul_of_arakis (profile), 25 Mar 2013 @ 1:35pm

Sadly "Scapegoating" is becoming popular in the UK and all the political main parties are joining in to try and attract votes. Whether it be twitteres, immigrants or people with too many bedrooms http://www.housing.org.uk/policy/welfare_reform/%E2%80%98under-occupation%E2%80%99_penalty.aspx
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Chosen Reject (profile), 25 Mar 2013 @ 1:40pm

As an American, it makes me feel good to know we don't have a monopoly on stupid politicians. Perhaps Messieurs Galloway and Gohmert should get together for some Fireside Chats. Rather than informing the public a la FDR, they could become entertainment, or warnings on what to watch for when voting.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 25 Mar 2013 @ 2:44pm

George Galloway is a plum
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 25 Mar 2013 @ 3:22pm

If the MPAA or RIAA, had asked for this ban, There would have been no Questions Asked. Simply Enacted.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 25 Mar 2013 @ 3:24pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzIXdQiaRBc
[ link to this | view in thread ]
anonymous cunt, 25 Mar 2013 @ 8:48pm

He has not called for it to be shut down. He has called for it to be sanctioned if it doesn't conform with lawful requests.

Do you have a comments policy on this site? Or do you ban people who post lies and random, baseless accusations against the individuals who run the site?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Violated (profile), 26 Mar 2013 @ 1:55am

Galloway
I see two possibilities here. The first is that MP George Galloway was serious which must have meant he had just ate, smoked and injected every mind altering drug known to science to be able to stand up in the House of Commons and to declare that cutting the whole of the UK off from Twitter was actually a good idea!

The second and more likely possibility is that good old George was just joking. He after all knows that many of his fellow MPs are huge Twitter users, to keep their followers updated, and to suggest "communications masochism" would give them all a good laugh.

So here are all the UK public looking on and thinking "Is this really what we elected you for?" along with "You have had your 5 minutes of fun so now back to work"
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Dark Helmet (profile), 26 Mar 2013 @ 3:47am

Re:
"He has not called for it to be shut down. He has called for it to be sanctioned if it doesn't conform with lawful requests."

The paperwork he filed includes the possibility of a ban. What are you talking about?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Ninja (profile), 26 Mar 2013 @ 4:01am

They already have the tools in place. Just block Twitter like they did with TPB.

Any bets on how long such a thing will happen with legit sites?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
anonymous cunt, 26 Mar 2013 @ 8:25am

Re: Re:
The possibility of a ban is not the same as "BAN TWITTER" as the headline says.

Does this site have a fucking comment policy or not? Can a cunt like me come along and post whatever the fuck I want? If so, that'll be great.
[ link to this | view in thread ]