Blowhard UK MP Says Ban Twitter Because Grandstanding Is Fun
from the not-gonna-happen dept
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.
Filed Under: censorship, free speech, george galloway
Companies: twitter
Comments on “Blowhard UK MP Says Ban Twitter Because Grandstanding Is Fun”
Details of the EDM
For anyone interested, the full text of the EDM, along with the two signatories, can be found here (emphasis added):
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.
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!
George Galloway is full of these little tidbits. He has some interesting views on a wide range of issues.
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!!
Re: Re:
Nah, Galloway is “special” like Fred.
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
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
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
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.
George Galloway is a plum
If the MPAA or RIAA, had asked for this ban, There would have been no Questions Asked. Simply Enacted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzIXdQiaRBc
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?
Re: 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?
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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.
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”
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?