Polls are wonderful when they lack details about who voted and also their understanding of the subject. It’s precisely for this reason that the British should never be let anywhere near a referendum on EU membership, because, in part through the idiocy of the national press, the country would shoot itself in the foot and cast itself into the wilderness, due to dumb stories about illegal bananas.

But anyway, today’s slice of stupid is reported in The Guardian, which provides the non-shock that people who don’t use social networks would be happy for them to be shut down during times of social unrest:

A poll of 973 adults carried out for the online security firm Unisys found 70% of adults supported the shutdown of Twitter, Facebook and BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), while only 27% disagreed.

Three-quarters agreed that governments should have open access to data on social network users in order to prevent co-ordinated crime. Support for action against social networks was strongest among over-65s and weakest among 18 to 24-year-olds, who are the heaviest users of the online services.

This to me suggests those polled skewed not just to old people, but old people who haven’t yet discovered the internet. Sadly, there’s crossover there with MPs, who seem quick to slam Iran and China for restricting their people’s access to the web during times of strife, but who are nonetheless all too quick to suggest the British do the exact same thing. Presumably, it’s OK for the British to do this, because we have a good government, which can be trusted, unlike all those foreigns. Shit, sorry, I APPEAR TO BE CHANNELING THE DAILY MAIL. *punches self in face*

Unsurprisingly, The Guardian’s take is heavily biased towards online freedom, quoting heavily from people who believe social networking should not be curbed. And as the recent riots unfolded, my Twitter feed was full of people trying to help, not hinder. Again, this is something that people who don’t use social networks fail to understand: they are just a means for communication. They can be used for good things and bad things. I note, however, that the government and non-techies have yet to suggest television should be shut-down during times of social unrest, despite 24-hour news channels inadvertently providing ‘advice’ on where rioters should strike.

Sadly, this kind of attitude pervades throughout our entire society. When I recently interviewed Graham Linehan for .net,  he suggested there are almost two ‘levels’ of people now, which are those engaged in social media and those who decide they want nothing to do with it—and the latter group includes plenty of people in the media industry:

I’m talking about people who still get the majority of their information from four or five newspaper columnists. To me, they’re the people who you meet at parties, who say things like ‘Oh, I’m sorry, but I don’t want to know what you’re having for dinner!’. They still use these clichés, but everyone else is playing Vulcan chess.