As we have mentioned in previous articles, modern technology is often used for less honorable causes, such as terrorism acts and violent protests which are now organized over the Internet and are pretty difficult to spot.

But if so far this area was pretty much reserved to terrorists, now it is time for hooligans and troublemakers to step into the scene, such as the French rioters have done starting with October 27th. The riots expanded all over the country, from the Riviera to the Channel, mostly in cities and suburbs; the situation worsened constantly and it has now been almost two weeks since the government declared a state of emergency.

The young hooligans adapted nicely to the situation and used modern technology as an ally to organize and manage violent attacks via weblogs and mobile phones. 27 cities and suburbs have already been engulfed by this violent phenomenon and the prospect of fighting an intelligent and well organized adversary has proven even more difficult for the French authorities.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has diverted resources to monitoring blogs in an attempt to anticipate the movements of the protesters. However, tracking down hooligans' blogs takes a lot of time and effort, which the French police have not much left.