yourlocalguardian.co.uk != guardian.co.uk

I don't even think they're the same company, but they're definitely different websites.

The one I linked to (which I simple found through a search; it's not mine, and I have no idea what it's actually like as a media outlet) is posting stuff from reporters called Peter Truman and Hannah Williamson who are actually there - they're not just repeating people's Twitter posts.





Twitter doesn't give the full picture. Even if all the shit which is wrong with Twitter was magically fixed, you'd still get probably false stuff like this:


And definitely false stuff like this:


Then there's this:

This:

This:

Repeat 100 times.

And that's just the direct re-tweats, there's then all the people saying the exact same thing in different ways, and all the responses to that.

Ok, it's sad someone has had their furniture shop destroyed, but I don't want to read about it in every other message.

I want to find out what's going on.

I want to know stuff like this:








I don't just want to read what the media writes - I'd be interested if anyone was trying to make any statement or if it is 100% pure destruction and pillaging - and you generally wont get that from standard news.

But being able to see an instant overview of the most significant pieces of information (especially from multiple sources) is helpful to obtaining that full picture.



If you really don't get what's wrong with it and need to ask how it could be changed then I'm not sure there's any point in me wasting time trying to point out why it's so incredibly shit.

Do you really see nothing wrong with this:

?

Not really no, it's just full of noise. Sometimes it takes a bit of time to get round that but that's what everyone is thinking. That's what life is like. That's a more 'accurate' version of events than what one person writes up in a newspaper.

It's tempting to create a website with pictures of every single face I can find of people looting from any internet video I can find....

With the EXIF coordinates attached to a map. Do it.

There is this

Heh, an interesting thing on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Petition-to-get-the-Army-in-to-sort-this-mess-out/234774236562030

People want the army to come and sort things out.

Unsure how I feel about that ... assuming we actually have an army here (and they're not all over in Afghanistan and Iraq) ... would it help?

Can an army person arrest/detain people they've caught (guess it might count as a citizen's arrest; does that even exist or is it just something that happens on TV shows? :S )

Possibly they're more trained for riot-like situations - at least compared to normal police, dunno about riot police (assuming riot police are actually trained and not just normal people given a stick and sheet of plastic and a helmet?).

Would rioters have more respect for / fear of someone in an army uniform compared to a police officer?

*shrug*

Thanks for that. I'm off to London tomorrow for work, so I'll use it to tell if my hotel's likely to catch fire (it's about a mile south of the bit of Hackney where it kicked off today).

You're welcome. Stay safe lad.

Pete - I'd say the Army create more of an impression than the Police, especially if they start rolling in in their own vehicles. I would say that they are also slightly less likely to be nice and patient, which might not necessarily be a bad thing.

 

On a side note, Ealing Broadway kicking off now too. Hanger Lane seems still quiet for now.

You guys should all go out and do a live report for us.

All quiet in Rocester.

If need be, come stay with us in Hanger Lane. Still here and fine. For now...

(hug) good cause I'd hate to have to come hurt someone!

I could maybe go and loot myself a cow.

Well earlier the police chased around 60 youths out of the area.
Tomorrow the inquest into Mr Duggan's death starts at the local Coroners' office; so i'm sure they'll be some justifiably angry people around as well as the looting twats.

What I'm wondering is if they'd only create more of an impression to a sane person - would a crazed mob-mentalised person see them as different?

I guess that's not something we can answer without either being one or sending in the army and finding out.

Not sure on the vehicles front - if I saw an army tank roll around the corner, I'd think "well he's not allowed to shoot at me, and if I go over there then he can't follow" - but then again looters probably aren't thinking straight so maybe it would help.

That will be helpful because it seems like the end of the world is coming and you will need the milk and beef eventually!

Echelon can probably do that much quicker than you. :)



Somewhere today I saw mention of an Android/iPhone app that can do facial recognition, then searches for similar photos, works out who the person is (i.e. using tagged photos on social networks), then once it has a name it searches those people-finder sites to find out actual information about them.

Interesting from a technology perspective, but scary from a privacy perspective.

Annoyingly I can't find the link for it. :(

I'm pretty sure it would be illegal. And with good reason: if they're not authorised to use force then you're just putting them in a very dangerous situation for which they have neither the training nor equipment. If they are authorised to use force then you've just declared war on your own people.

Tanks rolling down a high street would probably do more damage than looters.

Just as quiet here, in rural co Durham. I think all the local thugs arre trying to find out where London is.

No doubt they're looking for Luton.