Student protesters in London use Google Maps to outwit police "kettling"

Cory Doctorow 8:39 am Thu Dec 9, 2010

Dr Ben "Bad Science" Goldacre sez,

A few days ago I suggested that the UK's protesting students could do with some kind of "anti-kettling app", to outwit the efforts of the police to stop them protesting, and keep them detained out in the freezing cold subzero temperatures well after bedtime. It turns out I was over engineering things in my head, the students on the anti-fees protests in London are now using this simple Google map (I got sent it by this guy). If you watch it, you can follow what's happening in London right now. With audio/video/image updates and stuff, it could also become a chaotic unflitered news repository. There may be others from around the country.

Don't let me get carried away, but what i find interesting with this, with Wikileaks, and going right back to older underground video news outlets like Undercurrents, is that it does feel a bit as if the tools traditionally only available to the state for things like surveillance, evidence gathering, coordination and dissemination are being democratised. I also very much enjoy the appearance of Godzilla in the Thames.

student protestors using live tech to outwit police in london

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