Information Operations (IO) – Page 335 – Public Intelligence Blog

Could decentralized networks help save democracy?

Democratic movements can flourish online, but just as easily get censored. A group of researchers is developing solutions to the vulnerabilities and privacy problems with using big social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan disrupted communications between his opponents when he shut down Twitter during the run-up to the country's recent election. But in doing so, he provided yet more proof of how flawed social web activism can be. Whether the lessons in Turkey are heeded could have serious consequences for democracy.

Social networks such as Twitter and Facebook have enabled unprecedented levels of communication and have even received credit for at least one major democratic revolution. There's just one problem: because of their monolithic nature, these centralized networks expose users to snooping and interference of the kind Erdogan caused, says Sonja Buchegger, Associate Professor of Computer Science at KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

A single, large-scale platform provides an easier target for anyone who wants to interfere with online political activity, says Buchegger. “But, if Twitter were decentralized, and you had users cooperating and communicating directly, that wouldn't have been possible to disrupt.

“Decentralization allows for greater freedom of expression.

The good news is that there could be a computer science answer to the problem. Buchegger is leading a group of scientists at KTH who are creating building blocks that developers could use to launch decentralized, distributed networks, which would not only be difficult to interfere with, but would also protect people from government snooping.

Read full article.

2014/05/152014/05/15

Stephen E. Arnold: Bill Suggests Replacing NTIS with Google Search

IO Impotency

Bill Suggests Replacing NTIS with Google Search

The article titled There’s a ‘Let Me Google That For You’ Bill on Talking Points Memo relates the substance of a bipartisan bill (sponsored by Tom Coburn and Clair McCaskill). The bills purpose is to save the taxpayer money by resorting to Google and eliminating the National Technical Information Service (NTIS). The article states,

“The bill is meant to cut down on “the collection and distribution of government information” by prioritizing using Google over spending money to obtain information from the National Technical Information Service (NTIS). NTIS, run by the Department of Commerce, is a repository of 3 million scientific, technical, engineering, and business texts. The bill would abolish the NTIS and move essential functions of the agency to other agencies like the National Archives.”

If the bill’s name sounds familiar, you have probably heard of the website it is named after, in which the website redirects you to Google. The bill is put forward to prevent waste by federal agencies in obtaining government documents for money when they are available online free of charge. Sounds like a no-brainer, especially since NTIS was founded in 1950, decades before the Internet was even a possibility. You can read the full bill here.

Chelsea Kerwin, May 15, 2014

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext

2014/05/142014/05/14

Jim Fetzer: More Proof Sandy Hook Staged Event with Actors — Complex Details with Documentary and Photographic Evidence of a Mass Deception

07 Other Atrocities, 11 Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Idiocy, IO Deeds of War, Law Enforcement

School closed, actors used: Robbie Parker, entertainer, exposed

by Jim Fetzer and Victoria Muramoto

“In the end, that’s what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope?”–Barack Obama

As I have previously explained (“Sandy Hook Elementary School: closed in 2008, a stage in 2012″), the school appears to have been non-operational during at least the four years prior to the events of 14 December 2012.

There is lots of confirming evidence, with or without the Wayback Machine’s indirect proof–that if there was no internet activity on specific days, probably there was none during the interval within which they fall–that confirms it had been closed.

In addition to not being compliant with the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), video footage shows that it was being used as a storage facility, where even The Newtown Bee reported that it was laden with asbestos and other bio-hazards. No student should have been there.

More proof it had been abandoned

Continue reading “Jim Fetzer: More Proof Sandy Hook Staged Event with Actors — Complex Details with Documentary and Photographic Evidence of a Mass Deception”

2014/05/142014/05/14

Howard Rheingold: Brain Pays Attention — AND Manages Exclusion of Distractions

Advanced Cyber/IO

Empirical research on the neural correlates of attention is revealing a multi-functional system by which we balance the center of attention with the periphery, focus and scanning, allowing and suppressing attention to input. For students and those who are beginning to train their online infotention, it begins with strengthening the ability to ignore distractions. However, experts are also good at paying attention to perceptions on the periphery that might be important now or later (think of an expert aviator, scanning the horizon.)

How Attention Works: The Brain’s Anti-Distraction System Discovered

Attention is only partly about what we focus on, but also about what we manage to ignore.

Neuroscientists have pinpointed the neural activity involved in avoiding distraction, a new study reports.

This is the first study showing that our brains rely on an active suppression system to help us focus on the task at hand (Gaspar & McDonald, 2014).

. . . . . . .

The study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, involved 47 students carrying out a visual search task while their brain signals were monitored.

The finding may have important implications for psychological disorders which involve problems with attention.

The study’s senior author, John McDonald, said:

“…disorders associated with attention deficits, such as ADHD and schizophrenia, may turn out to be due to difficulties in suppressing irrelevant objects rather than difficulty selecting relevant ones.”

2014/05/142014/05/14

Stephen E. Arnold: Using Real Data to Mislead

IO Sense-Making

Using Real Data to Mislead

Viewers of graphs, beware! Data visualization has been around for a very long time, but it has become ubiquitous since the onset of Big Data. Now, the Heap Data Blog warns us to pay closer attention in, “How to Lie with Data Visualization.” Illustrating his explanation with clear examples, writer Ravi Parikh outlines three common ways a graphic can be manipulated to present a picture that actually contradicts the data used to build it. The first is the truncated Y-axis. Parikh writes:

“One of the easiest ways to misrepresent your data is by messing with the y-axis of a bar graph, line graph, or scatter plot. In most cases, the y-axis ranges from 0 to a maximum value that encompasses the range of the data. However, sometimes we change the range to better highlight the differences. Taken to an extreme, this technique can make differences in data seem much larger than they are.”

The example here presents two charts on rising interest rates. On the first, the Y-axis ranges from 3.140% to 3.154% — a narrow range that makes the rise from 2008 to 2012 look quite dramatic. However, on the next chart the rise seems nigh non-existent; this one presents a more relevant span of 0.00% to 3.50% on the Y-axis.

Continue reading “Stephen E. Arnold: Using Real Data to Mislead”

2014/05/132014/05/13

Internet Society of New York: Net Governance – Play to Win

Advanced Cyber/IO

Net governance is a game – play it to win

by David Solomonoff

While we take the Internet for granted as an essential part of everyday life, decisions are being made behind the scenes that affect its future and the lives of everyone who relies on it. Net users are like players in a game where the rules are unknown and can change at any time. Decisions are made by technologists, government regulators and legislators, nonprofits and civil society groups — with a great deal of influence by special interests — far from public view or understanding.

Read full aticle.

2014/05/132014/05/13

Berto Jongman: NSA Tampering With US-Made Routers

IO Deeds of War, IO Secrets

Glenn Greenwald: how the NSA tampers with US-made internet routers

The NSA has been covertly implanting interception tools in US servers heading overseas – even though the US government has warned against using Chinese technology for the same reasons, says Glenn Greenwald, in an extract from his new book about the Snowden affair, No Place to Hide

Category: Information Operations (IO)

Jean Lievens: Could decentralized networks help save democracy?

Stephen E. Arnold: Bill Suggests Replacing NTIS with Google Search

Jim Fetzer: More Proof Sandy Hook Staged Event with Actors — Complex Details with Documentary and Photographic Evidence of a Mass Deception

Howard Rheingold: Brain Pays Attention — AND Manages Exclusion of Distractions

Stephen E. Arnold: Using Real Data to Mislead

Internet Society of New York: Net Governance – Play to Win

Berto Jongman: NSA Tampering With US-Made Routers