War Protestors Get Tech Savvy

Marking the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, San Francisco anti-war protesters have started using the micro-blogging service Twitter to coordinate their movements throughout the day.  With various protests and staged events occurring at multiple locations throughout the city, the organizing group, called Direct Action to Stop the War, is utilizing Twitter to move supporters to particular places at just the right times.

Wired reports:

Would-be protesters can subscribe for live updates on developments and news of the group’s activities on their cell phones. Twitter updates are sent to the cellphones as text messages. The service is free for DASW since Twitter’s footing the bill for sending the text messages…

The group previewed a small subset of its planned disruptions of the work-day by publicizing a list of ideas in a widely-circulated e-mail, but many specifics of the local group’s activities have deliberately been kept secret until a strategically opportune time, say its organizers.

“The action needs to happen with an element of surprise,” says Taylor, whose day job is directing Radical Designs, a San Francisco web development group for nonprofits. “If the idea is to surround corporate headquarters and blockade it, you don’t want hundreds of people milling around it before it starts.”

DASW also plans on using Twitter for rumor control and for public safety. For example, if they know that the police are on the way to do a random sweep of an area, they might send out a Twitter message telling the protesters the quickest way of getting out of a particular spot.

Wired: S.F. Activists Use Twitter, Pirate Radio to Manage Anti-War Protesters