April 22nd, 2010Mexicans Share Drink Drive Checkpoints Over Twitter
Mexicans are now using social networks such as Facebook and Twitter to share information to avoid police checkpoints and breathalyzer stops. Police believe the social networking sites have also been used in the kidnapping of the relatives of businessmen and politicians by helping identify the families of a high profile individual and monitoring their daily activity.
Citizens have angered officials by using twitter to alert each other of the locations of breathalyzer checkpoints and a similar tactic is now being used by drug dealers.
Ghaleb Krame, Mexican security official stated “Twitter is a serious problem not only to Mexican law-enforcement agencies but to any law or intelligence agencies all over the world, criminals, drug cartels and terrorist cells are getting more sophisticated in their methods of communication.”
Social networks have been used by cartels using coded terms and phrases to evade suspicion when communicating with each other. The networks have also been used to provoke fear amongst communities. Reynosa, a town which has been bloodied by the acts of gang violence, was terrorized by members of a cartel spreading messages. One message read; “The largest scheduled shootout in the history of Reynosa will be tomorrow or Sunday, send this message to people you trust that tomorrow a convoy of 60 trucks full of cartel hit men from the Michoacan Family together with members of the Gulf Cartel are coming to take the city and take everyone out alive or dead!”
Social networks will now be monitored and regulated under a new bill recently drafted by the Mexican government. Under new legislation, helping others break or avoid the law by sharing information is now a crime itself. Authorities insist the bill is not aimed at the social networks themselves, only the users of them but it has been controversial in Mexico as many users have slammed it as an excuse to act as Big Brother.
The networking has been used to avoid breathalyzers as drivers do not want a drink driving ban as adriving offence in Mexico holds a strong penalty.