This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
As We Reported 6 Years Ago: The Pentagon Is Using AI Programs To Predict How People - e.g. Americans - Will React To Propaganda
The Guardian reports (h/t Tyler Durden):
The activities of users of Twitter and other social media services were recorded and analysed as part of a major project funded by the US military, in a program that covers ground similar to Facebook’s controversial experiment into how to control emotions by manipulating news feeds.
Research funded directly or indirectly by the US Department of Defense’s military research department, known as Darpa, has involved users of some of the internet’s largest destinations, including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Kickstarter, for studies of social connections and how messages spread.
***
Several of the DoD-funded studies went further than merely monitoring what users were communicating on their own, instead messaging unwitting participants in order to track and study how they responded.
***
The project list includes a study of how activists with the Occupy movement used Twitter as well as a range of research on tracking internet memes and some about understanding how influence behaviour (liking, following, retweeting) happens on a range of popular social media platforms like Pinterest, Twitter, Kickstarter, Digg and Reddit.
***
Unveiled in 2011, the SMISC [Social Media in Strategic Communication] program was regarded as a bid by the US military to become better at both detecting and conducting propaganda campaigns on social media.
“Through the program, Darpa seeks to develop tools to support the efforts of human operators to counter misinformation or deception campaigns with truthful information.” ["Truthful" as in government-approved? ]
***
Studies which received military funding channeled through IBM included one called “Modeling User Attitude toward Controversial Topics in Online Social Media”, which analysed Twitter users’ opinions on fracking.
***
“As another example, when anti-government messages are spread in social media, government would want to spread counter messages to balance that effort and hence identify people who are more likely to spread such counter messages based on their opinions.”
***
A study at Georgia Tech … concluded: “Breaking news stories and world events – for example, the Arab Spring – are heavily represented in social media, making them susceptible topics for influence attempts via deception.” [We can't tell if the researchers were pro or anti-deception; but given that the U.S. and Britain have used Twitter to intentionally spread falsehoods in other countries, we can take a wild guess.]
***
One of multiple studies looking into how to spread messages on the networks, titled “Who Will Retweet This? Automatically Identifying and Engaging Strangers on Twitter to Spread Information” did just this.
The researchers explained: “Since everyone is potentially an influencer on social media and is capable of spreading information, our work aims to identify and engage the right people at the right time on social media to help propagate information when needed.”
This story can only really be understood with a little context:
- We noted 6 years ago that the Pentagon is using artificial intelligence programs to try to predict how people will react to propaganda
- We’ve documented for 5 years that the Defense Department uses disinformation and disruption (and here) on the web to discredit activists and manipulate public opinion, just like it smears traditional television and print reporters who question the government too acutely
- We’ve long reported that the government censors and manipulates social media. More proof here
- Edward Snowden revealed NSA documents showing that the U.S. government is attempting to control, infiltrate, manipulate, and warp online discourse, and that spy agencies manipulate and disrupt web discussions to promote propaganda and discredit government critics
Postscript: We explained one aspect of this story – the importance of controlling which stories “go viral” – in February:
The government spends a great deal of manpower and money to monitor which stories, memes and social movements are developing the momentum to actually pose a threat to the status quo. For example, the Federal Reserve, Pentagon, Department of Homeland Security, and other agencies all monitor social media for stories critical of their agencies … or the government in general. Other governments – and private corporations – do the same thing.
Why?
Because a story gaining momentum ranks high on social media sites. So it has a high probability of bursting into popular awareness, destroying the secrecy which allows corruption, and becoming a real challenge to the powers-that-be.
“Social proof” is a related concept. Social proof is the well-known principle stating that people will believe something if most other people believe it. And see this. In other words, most people have a herd instinct, so if a story ranks highly, more people are likely to believe it and be influenced by it.
That is why vested interests go to great lengths – using computer power and human resources – to monitor social media momentum. If a story critical of one of these powerful entities is gaining momentum, they will go to great lengths to kill its momentum, and destroy the social proof which comes with alot of upvotes, likes or recommendations in social media.
They may choose to flood social media with comments supporting the entities, using armies of sock puppets, i.e. fake social media identities. See this, this, this, this and this.
»
- advertisements -
I'm a much better shot, or was, than Oswald ever was and on my best day couldn't have shot Kennedy in the front of his head from behind.
If you think the exist wound in the back of his head, and the piece of occipital bone that flew behind was caused by a shot from behind - you're a fucking idiot. And that's all there is to it. I'll allow it's at least possible he got off a shot and did hit near or around the car, maybe even the throat shot... but it's at least as possible that Oswald wasn't even in the book depository.
He certainly did not act alone that day.
And Michael Collins Piper may be on to something...
"I'm a much better shot, or was, than Oswald ever was and on my best day couldn't have shot Kennedy in the front of his head from behind."
JFK was shot in the back of the head, not the front. The Zapruder film showed his head moved forward and down between frame 212 and 213.
"If you think the exist wound in the back of his head, and the piece of occipital bone that flew behind was caused by a shot from behind - you're a fucking idiot."
There was no exit wound in the back of his head. The upper right side of his head exploded outward. In the zapruder film, frame 313, a piece of bone can be seen streaking up and forward from JFK's head. Scalp from the upper right side of the head fell down over JFK's right ear. The scalp in the back of JFK's head was completely in tact.
Was it not already proven ad nauseam that even the best marksmen couldn't hit a moving target from that distance and angle with a similar or better firearm?
"Was it not already proven ad nauseam that even the best marksmen couldn't hit a moving target from that distance and angle with a similar or better firearm?"
No. CBS filmed a test for a Warren documentary in 1967. Donahue, who was the subject of the book Mortal Error, hit the moving target 3 times in 4.8 seconds using the make of rifle found in the depository.
very dry and dark humor?
I love the words "Sock puppets" and "Trolls" in the morning.
Imagine you are a kid, just out of college, with $50-100K in debt. NSA or CIA offers you 40K+ to be a sock puppet?
Among the side ads here at ZH, among the lingerie, Russian or Asian dating sites, I saw one for the CIA entrance test. With all the hooray-for-the-Company movies Hollywood cranks out, imagine the excitement of a kid joining the CIA?
ARGO? Zero Dark Thirty?
After all, Lee Harvey Oswald just had his name added to the Wall of Heroes over at CIA headquarters in Langley, VA.
Today, Oswald would start as a internet troll and work up.
Lee Harvey Oswald Quietly Added To CIA Memorial Wall"
LANGLEY, Va. – Startled employees of the Central Intelligence Agency discovered this morning that Lee Harvey Oswald had been quietly added to the memorial wall at CIA Headquarters. Oswald is widely believed to have assassinated U.S. President John F. Kennedy, or someone dressed like him, in Dallas in 1963.
The action does not appear to have been a prank. As of press time the extra star was still there, along with Oswald’s name listed in the memorial book, located between entries for fallen agents Felix Leiter and Charles Calthrop.
A spokesman from the CIA refused to comment or elaborate on why the agency has added Oswald’s name to the memorial, only saying that after 50 years several documents had been declassified, which have “finally allowed the Agency to set the record straight.”
Jason Bourne next?
Read more: http://www.duffelblog.com/2013/11/lee-harvey-oswald-quietly-added-cia-memorial-wall/#ixzz3769eJwtoLee Harvey Oswald Quietly Added To CIA Memorial Wall
Edward Joseph Snowden, 50 years after they kill him.
Felix Leiter is from Ian Fleming's James Bond books, dood!
Geez, are you for real?
youve heard of the onion? same thing here with the duffelblog...
comedy, not-to-be-taken-seriously, website...
Satire war!
ha!
“Duffel Blog doesn’t get compared to other groups, other groups get compared to the Duffel Blog. Enough said.”
Yah, it's the military version of the onion.
The tip off to that poster should have been Felix.
Jeez.....
Did you read the article? It is clearly satire.
The duffleblog is AWESOME! Great satire.
Stop paying taxes
You go first.....
Thousands of people at full pay looking for an enemy, "look there is the bad guy!" Driven by a powerful self-delusional urge to justify why they get paid and perks while the rest of us are slowly ground down to a drugged paste.
A contraption looking for a purpose best directed by sociopaths, kept secret because it is so unbelievably stupid and absurd.
Imagine a 12 person prehistorical cave dwelling tribe that wastes three hunter-gatherers trying to figure out what the other 9 are doing without them knowing, all the while assuming some imaginary evil intent by the watched ones. Why?
I bet you more load is dropped nightly by these creepy bastards than in all the whorehouses in Vegas.
NSA is gonna need to up their order of tissues if technology keeps up.
pods
They may want to get their money back because I'm not buying their propaganda/bullshit. I believe far fewer are every day.
Fuck the feral Federal government trying to control us.
All of these things are just to let the little megalomaniacs get it up at night. They thrive on having a system where they can know everything.
Like the fakebook crowd is actually going to do anything to upset their balance of power. What are they gonna hashtag something and discuss over a latte?
This crap is just reallocation of MIC funds to keep the $$ coming in.
All of this shit will matter only until the dollar loses reserve currency status. After that things get old fashioned, like riot gear and jackboots.
pods
Well said pods, appreciate the time to stop and comment.
francis sawyer was a government troll. that's why he got banned.
Gotta agree with pods on this, I disagreed with a lot of what he said (or the way he said it) but the "new policy" is there and it was implemented by the owners of the house.
It takes a pretty despicable character to turn someone in for speech or expressing an opinion...but...it is what it is and its not "our house"...not our rules.
Francis knew that too and it is chilling. You should be able to say whatever you want to say and get the downs or ups that go with it (in my opinion) but again, its not our house.
Agreed. I'm sure I'd be lumped in with him, having caught the tail of his tenure, by what amount to the inverse Francis Sawyers - but fwiw, I think what is most offensive is dishonesty, which he strayed into in his zeal and hyperfocus on one group. I also never bought into the idea the Nazis didn't kill millions in their death camps although post-war propaganda was rampant and the soap and lampshades stuff [and the Katyn Forest massacre - as mentioned in ZH comments some time back in some good posts] were apparently false.... it's one thing to want to be able to examine the record, another to transform a cult of racialist evil into the victims of a global conspiracy.
On the other hand, many statements by Zionists were just as odious, racist, and insane - and they have largely gotten a pass.
ZH still is a remarkably free speech/free thought zone relative to other sites, and that is one of its biggest strengths. Most of the articles are good, but even the ones that might be deemed not so good are often worth reading for the comments and links.
Whenever someone claims something is 'racist' or 'hate' these days, my first question is - is it true, or is it fair. I find the inability to criticize the power and influence of the Israel Lobby and the disproportionate financial, political, and media power of Jews generally a fundamentally unfair restriction on any kind of honest analysis of the interaction of power and the state.
But this doesn't mean treating any group as an absolute monolith, or not seeing the crime and greed of other groups.
Apart from socially-indoctrinated disparate thresholds for what you can say about which group - part of the problem is binary thinking: If I give my opinion that Israel is committing war crimes, its not long before someone assumes that this means I think launching unguided rockets toward civilians is okay. [I do not - but I distinguish between kinds of weapons... unguided low muni rockets are not the same as a squadron of F-15s, or attack helicopters].
Anyone with a website is entitled to set some guidelines, it goes without saying - as a practical matter, too, there have to be limits if you're running a business. But true, genuine free speech and intellectual freedom is also a principle worth defending, as is expecting people to respond to points made, not caricatures of them.
I can argue in support of someone's right to say or think something without necessarily thinking it myself - I'm not sure most Americans actually understand that concept. The herd mind doesn't listen to opposing views so much as prepare a retot based on inferences not actually necessary {or even validly contingent} to a contrary position.
Why talk about whether or not open borders might be a net harm to the country if you can simply argue against "hate" instead. It changes the argument, let's you think you're a swell guy, and lets you off the hook for the selfish or myopic or idiotic reasons you adhere to your position in the first place.
great post. i deal with this shit all the time.
Umm, no. He got banned cause he did not like the new policy implemented here and kept speaking his mind. Well that and the thought police (VD) kept yapping about everything he wrote.
Cheesepopes FTW!
pods
Who are their sock puppets on ZH?
Oh man! I gotta tweet this out and link to it on Facebook.
well, the biggest tip-off would be they do not have ZH Values.
As in, true ZHers have a somewhat similar mindset.
Also, a very short membership or new membership is a clue.
If I had to describe "ZH Values" to you, you would not be a ZHer
I think that's pretty close.
If I say I am not one, then you will think I am.
MOAR WAR PLEASE
- Sponsored by John McCain for Senate.
IMO, the worst ones get chased off pretty quick. But you have to keep in mind that some people simply refuse to believe that the US government would be involved in anything bad. 'Murica and flags with eagles and all that. But they get chased off too. Unless you have eyes on the person at the keyboard posting the comments, you'll never know for sure.
Bots, Trolls, and Assholes. I know where I fall. Hell, my hockey coach did too, he even put a big "A" on my jersey.
pods
"Asshole" is often used for "Honest sincere person of conviction and character doing or telling me something I don't like or want to hear."
Keep up the good work pods.
What if I or you don't trust .gov or MSM or what you other people say and question everything because we've been lied to over and over?
I suppose this is why Obama was bashing "cynics" today.
For a start, look for the ones that consistently defend war, pooh-pooh Fuku and other disasters, try to stir up racial or religious hatred, or pretend that "mistakes were made" and there are no conspiracies ...
Seriously? Any mention of racial differences in crime rates, etc., can get one banned from a website.
A better start would be to identify who downvoted you!
The internet is the most profound system ever erected. It's no surprise it scares the shit out of government and big business. If control is the game, then a structure with unlimited entry and exit points of information, unlimited participants, unlimited economic connections, and unlimited subject matter must scare the crap out of the backroom boys. No wonder there are guys in military prison, holed up in embassies, and running to the Russians. People often say there are a lot of stupid sheep but the net also shows just how many intelligent, moral, and forward thinking people still exist. It's their connection that scares these folks. Collective power is collective power. As others point out, it doesn't take a huge percentage to reach a critical mass. If we know this, they know this. Expect more studies, less net speed, and unlimited bullshit.
Exactly. And I'm suspicious that the thepiratebay.se is forbidden in e.g. UK exactly for the fear of TPTB from masses doing uncontrolled decentralized sharing of huge files, gigantic blobs of information of any kind. The copyright and piracy bullshit is just a cover. Free and open sourced data and information is the only way how to fight those motherfuckers controlling central banks and armies.
Exactly. And I'm suspicious that the thepiratebay.se is forbidden in e.g. UK exactly for the fear of ...
Get a VPN and your IP can be anywhere you'd like. Forbidden? Don't believe the headlines. Nothing was actually "forbidden" it's just that PRESSURE is being applied.
http://wiki.vuze.com/w/Bad_ISPs shows only two ISP in UK doing what you say.
Orange is one of them.
And Richard Branson's Virgin Media is the other.
Wow. Just the other day I heard Richard Branson being named as his "hero" by one of those "Sovereign movement" folks who think that you can change yourself from being a citizen to a subject or somesuch and have your name in mixed-case instead of upper-case or vice-versa by filing something with the county clerk along with the required "30 pieces of gold" (no shit!) and thereby making yourself exempt from federal law.
United Kingdom[edit]
ISP limits BitTorrent bandwidth Tier 1 partners might 1 shape proposed Encryption level limits bandwidth for accounts with a high traffic volume limits bandwidth during certain times of the day prevents seeding 2 prevents/filters .torrent download 3 causes unsolvable NAT problem offers no real flatrate biscit, GB Yes No ? No No No No No No BT Broadband, UK Yes No throttles non-HTTP traffic Yes Yes No No Yes No Eclipse, UK Yes No 4+ Yes Yes No No No No Freedom2Surf, UK Yes No ? No Yes No No No No Freedom2Surf, UK Yes No ? No Yes No No No No Hyperoptic, UK ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Orange, UK Yes No ? Yes Yes No No, but thepiratebay.org is IP blocked No No PlusNet, UK Yes No ? Yes8 Yes8 No No No Yes TalkTalk, GB Yes No Throttles Traffic Yes Yes No No No No UK telco O2 Yes ? ? Yes Yes No No No Yes Virgin Media, GB (Cable) No No ? Yes7 No No No, but thepiratebay.org is IP blockedToo simple.
I would say look at the ones that are not black and white. That can see both sides of the issue.
The black and white people are what they would like you to believe are the people. They are better than just falling into that trap...
Or don't look at all. I guess avoiding paranoia would be a good thing?
Don't waste your time finding the idiots.