Should Facebook be banned?

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My Dad and I were talking about the UK riots earlier this evening. I mentioned that I thought Facebook was probably being used to organise some of these things as in other countries. My Dad's response to that was to say that Facebook should be banned! I pointed out that if they did this it would just move to other social networking sites like Myspace. His response to this was to say that all social networking sites should be banned! I'm not sure how many of these there are but I'm sure more are springing up everyday so it would be difficult to police. I argued the point that these sites are used for lots of advertising etc and there would be an economic cost to doing this. He pointed out that the riots are having a big economic cost. Does anyone have any idea what the economic impact of getting rid of these things would be as well as obviously the cost to people's personal relationships? Does he have a point or not? What do people think? I can't help feeling his argument is a little like saying the internet should be banned because it is used to distribute child pornography or youtube should be banned because of happy slapping videos or copyright infringements. I'm sure there are quite a few facebook users here so thought it would be interesting to hear people's opinions?

People can use their mouths or sign langauge to co-ordinate a riot. I don't think we should get rid of them.

The solution is to get rid of the people involved, not the tools they use.

On any average day, Facebook is not used for riots, and a government apparatus that could prevent riots altogether would be truly disturbing to think about.

those who give up freedom for security deserve neither.

tell him to read this about child porn, he will probably stop reading a third of the way through though, he sounds like he would deny that its been a problem for thousands of years.
http://wikileaks.org/wiki/An_insight_into_child_porn

Ok facebook as helped to co-ordinate riots and at the same time its help to co-ordinate community action to taken a positive stand again it. A FB page was set up last nite to help get people to help clean up after the riots in Liverpool.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-me ... e-14459857

I don't think Facebook should be banned because people could organize riots on it, but I think it does create many problems:
http://socialtimes.com/facebook-addicti ... a-d_b60403


Every time I go to the school library (that would be every day afterschool to program stuff on Notepad ) I see people using proxies to get on Facebook. I also see people with Facebook apps at school. I don't think it should be banned, but maybe it should be more regulated.

On the flip side Facebook was used to tag perpetrators of the recent Vancouver riots. So it can be used both for and against civil disobedience. I am against any internet censorship so I definitely don't think Facebook should be banned though I do consider it an asinine waste of time

There's a Facebook page, which I've just clicked like for, called Let's NOT start a riot in Glasgow!

I've never been on Facebook, but I guess even if they banned it people would find other ways to start riots anyway.

Face book doesnt cause riots, people cause riots. It is just a tool. More importantly, it is a form of free speech. Take away facebook and it is a slippy slope that will spread into other forms of erasing free speech for "security".

That kind of thinking is dangerous to humanity.

Jojo

When the various Arabian revolts were happening thanks to Facebook, we praised it. Now the Western youth uses it and we want to ban it? Banning it would put us in line with dictatorships and the like. Let's at least keep our veneer of moral superiority intact, shan't we?

No, it shouldn't.

I use Facebook for conversing with friends and family. I don't use it for terrorist activities!

No, it should not be banned.

I would never have a facebook account (or any other social-network account), but I can't think of a reason why facebook should be banned.

Facebook is just a communication mechanism - a means to an end. It can be used for good or ill. It's just a tool. The intentions of those that use the tool are more important than the tool itself.