A 20-year-old man in Essex has been charged with “encouraging or assisting in the commission of an offence”  because he used Blackberry Messenger to invite people to a public water fight. Whether this means British cops can now wiretap the Blackberry messaging network is unclear, but either way: great job, democracy.

“In the light of recent events, we would have to be careful that [the planned water fight] is not all that it seems,” an Essex Police spokesman is quoted as saying.

Some other people got arrested for taking part in water fights earlier this month, but that was in Tehran.

This on the tail of David Cameron’s proposal of a national censorship programme, in an attempt to “stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality.”

Because that’s worked so wonderfully in China, where they have more experience, more resources, and less legal restraints in the realm of censorship.

Never mind the fact that water fights are now apparently violent, disorderly, or criminal.

[Source :guardian]