The danger in that however is subtly disarming other rights.
Say it's 1960 instead of 2016, but digital technology has taken off 60 years sooner. The NAACP youth council coordinates over Facebook and e-mail lists instead, and the civil rights movement is under government scrutiny because of potential terrorist links. The Greensboro Four, Joseph McNei, Franklin McCain, Ezell Black Jr. and David Richmond are planning their sit in over Whatsapp, which an algorithm picks up. Someone at the NSA, sympathising with segregation, passes this on to someone in local law enforcement through non-official channels. Before the four even get to the Woolworth, they are detained by a police officer in a "routine" traffic stop. The sit in never happens for national security reasons.
The right to coordinate seems absolutely essential to the right to congregate. I do think that the civil rights movement is a good example of how righting an injustice could be stifled by preventing people coordinating. Other historical what-ifs like the labor movements, the salt march, or concrete examples like the various secret polices of communist dictatorships spring to mind too. You could have dissident thoughts all day long in east Berlin as well, as long as noone heard them.
Say it's 1960 instead of 2016, but digital technology has taken off 60 years sooner. The NAACP youth council coordinates over Facebook and e-mail lists instead, and the civil rights movement is under government scrutiny because of potential terrorist links. The Greensboro Four, Joseph McNei, Franklin McCain, Ezell Black Jr. and David Richmond are planning their sit in over Whatsapp, which an algorithm picks up. Someone at the NSA, sympathising with segregation, passes this on to someone in local law enforcement through non-official channels. Before the four even get to the Woolworth, they are detained by a police officer in a "routine" traffic stop. The sit in never happens for national security reasons.
The right to coordinate seems absolutely essential to the right to congregate. I do think that the civil rights movement is a good example of how righting an injustice could be stifled by preventing people coordinating. Other historical what-ifs like the labor movements, the salt march, or concrete examples like the various secret polices of communist dictatorships spring to mind too. You could have dissident thoughts all day long in east Berlin as well, as long as noone heard them.