Shadow science minister stands up for Twitter

Shadow science minister Chi Onwurah has voiced concerns that the government “does not really understand technology” and is scapegoating social media following last week’s riots, she wrote on the NewScientist blog, the S-word, on 16 August.

Onwurah, who was previously head of telecoms technology at OFCOM, claimed that government statements portrayed social media as dangerous, and counter- argued that “networks don’t break laws, people do. If that recalls the specious US gun-lobby arguments against gun control, it is deliberate. […] But while guns are designed to kill, networks to bring people together.”