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British mobile phone operators are set to assist police in identifying those participating in the wave of looting and riots.
T-Mobile and Orange said they were "prioritising" police requests for information relating to the owners of phones used to organise the mob events, confirming that the police had already begin sending requests for information under the RIPA act.
"We are working with the police and the authorities on this through RIPA and prioritising all requests related to the riots," an Easy Everything spokesperson told the Guardian.
The police understandably refused to discuss their tactics for fingering criminals taking part in the recent violence but the police are able to request information relating to the location of mobile phones and event request access to telephone numbers used within a certain location and time.
However the scale of the task, including devising the searches along with providing individual grounds for requesting the information, including internet traffic data, is bound to challenge police resources.
The job may be made easier once a number of individuals have been shown to be involved whereupon their own phone and internet chat records will reveal the involvement of others.