Kate Starbird, 24 July 2019, Naturehttps://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02235-x Misconceptions about disinformation leave us vulnerable to manipulation online, says Kate Starbird. Earlier this month, the White House hosted a ‘Social Media Summit’ that served to reframe and distract from serious, hostile manipulation of online discourse. Much ink has already been spilt on the algorithms, business models and human […]Read More

Our Take: In testimony to Congress last week, former Special Counsel Robert Mueller highlighted the scope of the threat posed by Russian interference, Director Laura Rosenberger emphasized for NPR and in Just Security. On NPR’s All Things Considered, Non-Resident Fellow Clint Watts argued that the erosion and subversion of our democracy is Putin’s long-term goal. On MSNBC, Watts urged the U.S. to secure its […]Read More

April 2019, The Law Library of Congress, Global Legal Research Directoratehttp://www.law.gov or https://fas.org/irp/eprint/lloc-fake-news.pdf This report examines the legal approaches of fifteen countries, representing all regions of the world, to the emerging problem of manipulation with “fake news” using mass and social media, especially the impact of fake news on ongoing political processes and elections, and […]Read More

Startups and government agencies are researching ways to combat doctored images ahead of the 2020 election Abigail Summerville, July 27th 2019, Wall Street Journal Startup companies, government agencies and academics are racing to combat so-called deepfakes, amid fears that doctored videos and photographs will be used to sow discord ahead of next year’s U.S. presidential […]Read More

Russia Russian Active Measures Campaigns and Interference in the 2016 US Election | Senate Committee on Intelligence  Russia’s Prepared to Interfere in 2020. Will the U.S. Be Ready? | Stanley McChrystal & David Eichenbaum | Politico  Not Just the Russians Anymore It’s Not Just The Russians Anymore As Iranians and Others Turn Up Disinformation Efforts Ahead Of 2020 Vote | […]Read More

Paul Mozur, July 26th 2019, New York Timeshttps://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/26/technology/hong-kong-protests-facial-recognition-surveillance.html A quest to identify protesters and police officers has people in both groups desperate to protect their anonymity. Some fear a turn toward China-style surveillance. HONG KONG — The police officers wrestled with Colin Cheung in an unmarked car. They needed his face. They grabbed his jaw to force […]Read More

Shibani Mahtani and Regine Sabato, July 26th 2019, Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/why-crafty-internet-trolls-in-the-philippines-may-be-coming-to-a-website-near-you/2019/07/25/c5d42ee2-5c53-11e9-98d4-844088d135f2_story.html?utm_term=.328c8459b9d2 MANILA — In a white-walled room, a small cyber-army of four is furiously typing. And posting. And clicking. And scrolling.  And trolling. For the next eight hours, they will be glued to their screens. They are hired guns in one of Manila’s hundreds of troll farms […]Read More

IPA recognized new Order Of Hermès awardees from Ukraine MOD and Naval Post Graduate school.  For outstanding achievement and academic leadership, IPA acknowledged Dr. Hy Rothstien and Dr. John Arquilla. Read More

Preface More Cowbell Unlimited recently released a technical paper which presents a holistic Information Warfare Defense (IW-D) Standard.  The Standard may be adopted by any country or organization. The technical paper includes a novel IW Attack and Defense Methodology along with plausible human, machine, machine-human, machine-machine, and emerging IW attack scenarios and mitigation strategies in the Appendix. Technical paper comments are welcome. […]Read More

SEC. 218. FOREIGN MALIGN INFLUENCE OPERATIONS RESEARCH PROGRAM.     (a) Program Required.–The Secretary of Defense, acting through the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, shall carry out a research program on foreign malign influence operations research as part of the university and other basic research programs of the Department of Defense (such as […]Read More