Twitter leads to G20 arrests

7th October 2009

A pair of alleged anarchists have been arrested after apparently using Twitter to inform protestors of police movements during the recent G20 summit in Pittsburgh.

Michael Wallschlaeger and Elliot M Madison are alleged to have worked together from a hotel room which, according to police reports, was filled with computers as well as scanning equipment to keep track of exactly where police cars and officers were stationed or moving to, providing IT support of a very different kind.

The scene, which sounds like an extremely stereotypical set-up for people aiming to achieve these goals, saw the FBI taking control of the equipment alongside anarchist literature, pictures of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin.

Alongside this, a few more worrying items were also seized, including gas masks, a mortar and pestle, test tubes, goggles and arm pads.

There has been a little more controversy with Twitter recently, as culture secretary Ben Bradshaw accused the BBC of being biased towards the Conservative Party through the digital medium to his followers.

According to a recent survey by Connect, the two biggest IT headaches for businesses were 'everyday hassles with IT' (37 per cent) and 'security concerns' (32 per cent).ADNFCR-1071-ID-19398030-ADNFCR