bethinkr

The writers of a recent military report examining the mobile technologies used by terrorists, theorized that

militants might pair some of these mobile applications with Twitter, to magnify their impact.

Part of the foundation of this idea came from the Republican National Convention where

Twitter was [...] used as a countersurveillance, command and control, and movement tool [...] The activists would Tweet each other and their Twitter pages to add information on what was happening with Law Enforcement near real time.

In response, Dan Tynan makes a fair point in his Computerworld “Culture Crash” blog, noting:

Saying Twitter can be used by terrorists is a bit like saying oxygen can be used by terrorists.

[...]

But is it such a great leap to suggest that when the US Army means “terrorists,” they’re not just thinking of fanatics with bombs who blow up innocent people, but ordinary folks who might occasionally be moved to exercise their Constitutional rights?

Check out the rogues gallery of evil doers cited by the report:

“Twitter has also become a social activism tool for socialists, human rights groups, communists, vegetarians, anarchists, religious communities, atheists, political enthusiasts, hacktivists and others to communicate with each other and to send messages to broader audiences.”

I love one of the comments to this posting:

We’re not really terrorists, but we are atheists. Where do we turn ourselves in?

Of course, if some activist or anti-social group does decide to use Twitter, they are going to have to face the same issues we regular non-Twitterrorists face.

*checking Twitter*

тупоумная американская технология!