In the Age of Fake News.......
Remnick: “We’ve reached the summit of bull#### mountain... and you have to wonder if we’ll find our way down again.”
https://www.theguardian.com/cannesli...e-news-cannes#
The most disturbing part of this isn't the volume & detail of voter info that was compromised......It's the collection of it.
The leaked info "paints a detailed portrait of virtually all of America’s 200 million voters."https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/06/19/republican-contractor-database-every-voter-exposed-internet-12-days-researcher-says/
"These political data firms might as well be working for the Russians."
...do we know they aren't?
This is a such an important point: Taken to this extreme level, voter targeting really is a threat to democracy.
Last edited by davidbfpo; 06-20-2017 at 05:48 PM. Reason: Fix link and remove images that are on the WaPo link
In the Age of Fake News.......
Remnick: “We’ve reached the summit of bull#### mountain... and you have to wonder if we’ll find our way down again.”
https://www.theguardian.com/cannesli...e-news-cannes#
Putin Falls for Fake News” by @DFRLab
https://medium.com/dfrlab/putin-fall...-9d4e50fc1865#
Stop Fake @StopFakingNews
Russia uses money and threat of prosecution to hide Russian soldiers’ deaths in Ukraine
http://www.stopfake.org/en/russia-us...s-in-ukraine/#
How the entire nation of #Ukraine became Russia's test lab for cyberwar
https://www.wired.com/story/russian-...ttack-ukraine#
Appears that the loss of 198M US voters' personal information and voting information which could provide a rather detailed voter preference which was "stolen" by unknown persons BECAUSE it was left on an open unsecured location on an Amazon cloud server for 21 days was handled by a US defense contractor SCL...
SCL used to be owned by Trump special advisor Bannon before he sold it to Cambridge Analytica now owned by billionaire Mercer....
SCL is now being investigated by UK concerning this data breach which effected virtually ALL US voters.....
UK Information Commissioner opens a formal investigation into the use of data analytics for political purposes:
https://iconewsblog.wordpress.com/20...al-purposes/#…
They are investigating as well the connections between the US defense contractor SCL and CA and whether they are actually the same company just different names...
SCL and CA pride themselves in being "big data" and storage companies YET this was a massive breach and caused by themselves...
Some of the data sets that SCL had ......
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 06-21-2017 at 04:30 AM.
IMHO this is one of the worst data breaches in the last ten years of really bad data breaches YET it has not rated much comment in US MSM......
When coupled with data mining taken from social media on virtually all of these voters it is extremely easy to formulate and distribute targeted political media messaging much in the fashion of informational warfare which is the core of the Russian non linear warfare....
So it begs a serious question...if hacking of voter databases is considered to be "bad" as that would be seen as "direct meddling in an US election".....WHAT is then the effective use of targeted media directed against voters THAT could in fact get them to change their vote????
This data held by SCL when coupled with social media big data mining can in fact produce very accurate explicit psychographic scores THAT then can be converted into specific targeting of voters with messaging that "appeals" to their psychological voter profiles.
We are now seeing a modern Gobbels approach to impacting voting habits...
When one really takes the time to read the Russian doctrine on information warfare...it clearly states the end goal is the changing of opinions, attitudes and thinking of an entire society just not individuals...
AND if we look at the latest CBS polling also posted here we are seeing a not so subtle shift by a group of voters which had previously been largely negative towards Russian NOW being accepting of Russia and its current actions....
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 06-21-2017 at 04:46 AM.
Russian propaganda hard at work.....
Kommersant source claims Poroshenko promised Trump lucrative contracts in Donbas if he helps with settlement.
http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/3330740
Nothing is written in Kommersant without Kremlin approval....
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 06-21-2017 at 09:25 AM.
REALLY WORTH reading and then rereading and then looking at some of my posting here to fully understand the depth of the previous postings on the "loss" of 198M voter datasets....AND then understand why they were being "collected" ie "harvested"......
"Most powerful when bots and trolls work together." Must-read from @oiioxford on bots, automation and propaganda:
http://comprop.oii.ox.ac.uk/wp-conte...veSummary.pdf#
Computational propaganda is the use of algorithms, automation, and human curation to purposefully distribute misleading information over social media networks. We find several distinct global trends in computational propaganda.
• Social media are significant platforms for political engagement and crucial channels for disseminating news content. Social media platforms are the primary media over which young people develop their political identities. o In some countries this is because some companies, such as Facebook, are effectively monopoly platforms for public life. o In several democracies the majority of voters use social media to share political news and information, especially during elections. o In countries where only small proportions of the public have regular access to social media, such platforms are still fundamental infrastructure for political conversation among the journalists, civil society leaders, and political elites. • Social media are actively used as a tool for public opinion manipulation, though in diverse ways and on different topics. o In authoritarian countries, social media platforms are a primary means of social control. This is especially true during political and security crises. o In democracies, social media are actively used for computational propaganda either through broad efforts at opinion manipulation or targeted experiments on particular segments of the public. • In every country we found civil society groups trying, but struggling, to protect themselves and respond to active misinformation campaigns.
Last edited by davidbfpo; 06-21-2017 at 09:53 AM. Reason: brevity
Example of the above posting hard at work...driven by server controlled bots...
DFR Lab
@DFRLab
NOT BREAKING NEWS - Contrary to Russian social media, US bomber did not drop bomb on Lithuania by mistake.
For analysis of this fake news story...
https://medium.com/dfrlab/fakenews-a...a-6ae64241fe9e
VERY GOOD analysis of how a fake news story is generated and pushed.....
Russian MoD trying to counter propaganda wise their within FIVE foot approach to a RC-135 over the Baltic....
Over the #BalticSea, an F-16 (#NATO?) attempted to buzz aircraft with #Russia's MoD Shoigu on board:
https://meduza.io/news/2017/06/21/is...ra-oborony-rf#
NATO response...we did not even know he was flying over the Baltic lately....must have had his transponder off....as ususal.....
Little attention has also been paid to the Russian oligarch purchases of western MSM....Chinese as well BTW in the US of all places....
UK MSM "Independent" belongs to Russian KGB/FSB (ex)-official. Serves as a Kremlin mouthpiece occasionally.
Has often in editorials pushed for degrading EU and UK out of EU....
#
Finally, bots are called bots
BTW...taken from the posted Oxford study......
Washington Post
@washingtonpost
Pro-Putin bots are dominating Russian political talk on Twitter
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...b43d&tid=sm_tw
45% of RU accs tweeting abt politics are bots. As 4 "1-in-2 chance communicating with a real person" - No, w/trolls having lots of accs each
Updated Graphic! Big thanks @petitpolatouche for improvements. Here's how Russia's Active Measures work:
https://warontherocks.com/2016/11/tr...ur-democracy/#
A NPR Journalist was recently in Moscow and asked via email for a Russia Today interview for NPR....
This is actually the response she received from RT.....
Dear Mary Louise Kelly,
Thank you for your request to meet. We have been informed, via our red phone straight to the Kremlin, that the officers who have tracked you since you landed sense that your mind is already made-up on this issue, and so meeting to discuss the baseless accusations made against RT would be fruitless. We politely refer you to the man in the blacked-out Volga parked outside your hotel for further explanation.
Best regards,
RT Press Office
This is the fake video that Putin found and showed to Oliver Stone. Audio from Ukrainian pilots over the Donbas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RDlaoVSp34#
Putin claimed it was Russian troops fighting IS in Syria but it really was US footage and Ukrainian AF voices......
Putin got faked out by "fake news".....
Interesting read....Russian Propaganda Methods: https://spark.adobe.com/page/kXNdPkQp2nQAi/
Last edited by davidbfpo; 06-21-2017 at 04:14 PM. Reason: fix link
IMHO...this Russian security software company can simply be not trusted...they were the first to announce the discovery of a highly sensitive NSA "company" when the rest of the IT industry knew nothing about that "company"...
We all know "Kaspersky". All customer data resides in Russia as simple as that.....AND all software has built in backdoors for those that know how to open them....
US intel warn about a Russian cybersecurity company’s access to US govt systems, say they have close ties to Kremlin
https://www.buzzfeed.com/alimwatkins...L#.yoDyVae8PD#
Really good article from 2014 on Russian information Warfare....
Russian Information Warfare of 2014
https://ccdcoe.org/sites/default/fil...0of%202014.pdf
Especially referencing the social media battlefield...
Another good read on Russian Information Warfare...
The Anatomy of Russian Information Warfare Reference Crimean Operation Case Study
https://www.osw.waw.pl/sites/default...on_warfare.pdf
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