BlackBerry Messenger Instrumental in Spreading and Coordinating Riots and Looting in London

The quick spread of the riots and violence in London over the last few days seem to have taken Britain by surprise. Not enough police were on the streets; the prime minister did not come back into town until two days of violence rocked the city; and, Monday night, the violence spread to cities beyond London.

It seems the rioters had a key assist from a technology not often making headlines: BlackBerry Messenger (or BBM for short). It’s put Blackberry at the center of the riots, with a London MP asking the company to turn off the technology to calm the chaos and a hacking group infiltrating the Blackberry site threatening riots at the Blackberry headquarters if the company releases any BBMs to the police.

While Twitter and Facebook have gotten the lion’s share of attention in helping to fuel protests in the Middle East, the public nature of those sites has kept most Londoners away from the open networks. The Guardian reports that many of the rioters organized on the private messaging system BBM, which allows for a group text messaging to be sent to people within a chosen network.

One such message shown to the Guardian read: “Everyone from all sides of London meet up at the heart of London (central) OXFORD CIRCUS!!, Bare SHOPS are gonna get smashed up so come get some (free stuff!!!) f*** the feds we will send them back with OUR riot! >:O Dead the ends and colour war for now so if you see a brother… SALUT! if you see a fed… SHOOT!”