<nettime> Twitter Revolution made in USA: Tweet about the police, get arrested.

[Felix Stalder <felix@openflows.com>]

What will the web2.0 visionariessay about this? My hunch: Nothing! 

But, perhaps the even sadder story is that having a picture of Marx and 
Lenin at home is taken as 'evidence'.  

Felix



New York man accused of using Twitter to direct protesters during G20 
summit

Elliott Madison arrested by FBI and charged with using social networking 
site to help demonstrators evade Pittsburgh police


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/04/man-arrested-twitter-g20-
us/print

A New York-based anarchist has been arrested by the FBI and charged with 
hindering prosecution after he allegedly used the social networking site 
Twitter to help protesters at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh evade the 
police.

Elliot Madison, 41, from Queens, had his home raided and was put on $30,000 
(£19,000) bail after he and Michael Wallschlaeger, 46, were tracked to the 
Carefree Inn motel in Pittsburgh during the summit on 24 and 25 September.

The pair were found sitting in front of a bank of laptops and emergency 
frequency radio scanners. They were wearing headphones and microphones and 
had many maps and contact numbers in the room.

Official police documents allege the two men used Twitter messages to 
contact protesters at the summit "and to inform the protesters and groups 
of the movements and actions of law enforcement".

In all, almost 200 protesters were arrested during the two-day summit, 
which brought world leaders to Pittsburgh to discuss the global economic 
meltdown and other matters of common financial interest.

About 5,000 protesters were estimated to have taken part in demonstrations 
in the city.

Twitter has rapidly established itself as an important tool in the armoury 
of protest groups and demonstrators. During the summit, the police openly 
monitored Twitter to listen in to the protesters' communications.

The FBI said that as well as the computers and radio scanning equipment 
discovered at the motel, they also confiscated from Madison's home 11 gas 
masks, five pairs of goggles and test tubes and beakers. They said they 
also took away anarchist books and pictures of Marx and Lenin.

Madison is a social worker with a Manhattan-based programme attached to a 
psychiatric hospital. He is said to be a member of the People's Law 
Collective, a voluntary group that advises protesters on legal issues 
arising from actions. Wallschlaeger produces a talk show on radio called 
This Week in Radical History.





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