"Free flow of information can sometimes be a problem..." said the PM while lamenting that Blackberry Messanger was used very effectively by young hooligans in organizing violence!

This assertion sidesteps the basic distiction that to organize is not the same as to create.

You typically organize entities that already exist, are unorganized and unable to come to a common purpose. This has been very forcefully demonstrated recently in the events in the Middle East and North Africa, where the social networks provided a highly effective means of bringing togather a population that has been frustrated with their rulers. Facebook and Twitter were used to create vast "virtual congregations" that became real on the ground, forcing changes in the governance structure.

In fact, one can advance a theory that if those governments had allowed freedom of speech and free flow of information, and, had listened to the social chatter, the outcome could very well had been dramatically different!

Blocking social media at the time of unrest has another potential downside. Such a restriction will handicap innocent victims and those needing help when other conventional channels are overloaded or are unavailable.

In the days to come smart social scientists in UK will analyse this seemingly mindless and purposeless violence, and will discover the real root causes. Addressing those will truely be the right step in resolving social tensions.

Meanwhile tightening the lid on a boiling pot is probably not the wisest of the steps!