Do Not Use Twitter to Start a Riot

Reported today by The New York Times, a Queens man had his apartment raided last Thursday by the FBI.  Agents were searching for evidence of "violations of federal rioting laws."

A couple weeks earlier, the suspect had been arrested in Pittsburgh for "directing others, specifically protesters of the G-20 summit, in order to avoid apprehension after a lawful order to disperse.”  This accusation allowed him to be charged with "hindering apprehension or prosecution, criminal use of a communication facility and possession of instruments of crime."

How exactly had this man been "directing others" to "avoid apprehension"?  Well, by alerting protesters to the police's whereabouts on Twitter of course!

Yes, Twitter is a powerful tool for disseminating information 140 characters at a time, but with great power comes great responsibility.  That's what Spiderman believed, and Spiderman hated crime.

So be careful what you tweet.  You wouldn't tweet "FIRE!" in a crowded showing of Spiderman 3 (again, Spiderman would hate this).

You also shouldn't tweet, "Watch the stop sign on High Street. Police car hiding behind billboard looking for rolling stops."  That would be illegal, like flashing your headlights to alert oncoming drivers of the cop, which no one does anymore.

But whatever you do, don't tweet, "Let's go to city hall and burning that motha-f#&%er down!!!!!!! #riot #rioting"

Just some helpful legal advice for using Twitter.  You'll thank me later.