"I think the idea that fake news on Facebook ... influenced the election in any way is a pretty crazy idea," CEO Mark Zuckerberg said back in November, following Donald Trump's poll-defying win. A new report from the company, however, titled "Information Operations and Facebook," shows just how far the social media giant's position has … Continue reading Facebook releases ‘information operations’ report, update on govt. data requests
Month: April 2017
Alex Jones, radio show host and founder of the popular fringe news site InfoWars.com, has long been a controversial figure -- for everything from his outspoken support for President Donald Trump to his promotion of outlandish conspiracy theories such as the idea that extraterrestrial reptilian shapeshifters secretly rule the world. Jones has not only stoked … Continue reading ‘Performance artist’ Alex Jones ‘playing a character,’ his lawyer says
The U.S. Army's "Special Forces Guide to Information Operations" comes complete with a "destruction notice" on its cover, urging the reader to get rid of it "by any method that will prevent disclosure of contents or reconstruction of the document." Dramatic disclaimers aside, though, a 2013 edition of this document surfaced this week on the … Continue reading Leaked information ops guide reveals psychological warfare tactics
Mike Pompeo, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, made some interesting comments Thursday about Wikileaks, calling the anti-secrecy organization a "non-state hostile intelligence service" -- despite his own past public support for the group as a congressman during last year's presidential race. Pompeo, who said Thursday that "WikiLeaks walks like a hostile intelligence service, and … Continue reading Wikileaks a ‘non-state hostile intelligence service,’ says Wikileaks-tweeting CIA boss
Less than four years ago, the U.S. government finally acknowledged the existence of Area 51, the notorious military installation in the Nevada desert long associated with unidentified flying objects. It may be that documents mentioning the facility were declassified due to a lack of plausible deniability, given Area 51's high profile in pop culture. … Continue reading Area 51 drone development expanding?
During last year's election campaign, President Donald Trump famously promised to build a wall on the United States' southern border, and make Mexico pay for it. Now, however, it appears that U.S. taxpayers may end up paying not only for the border wall, but for a whole biometric surveillance system for the Mexican government. "The … Continue reading U.S. looks into setting up biometric surveillance system for Mexico
In the wake of high-profile leaks of government secrets in recent years such as those by Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning, and most recently the CIA revelations from Wikileaks, the "insider threat" has become a prominent concern in national security circles. It is not surprising, then, that someone has now suggested another popular buzzword -- … Continue reading Automation suggested as ‘insider threat’ solution
Last week at an Air Force Association event, William Roper, head of the Pentagon’s Strategic Capabilities Office, shared some of his thoughts on artificial intelligence, and the role he envisions for it in the next major war. Except that the outbreak of this hypothetical future conflict "shouldn’t look like war at all," as Defense … Continue reading DoD officials deny ‘general AI’ plans they admire tech companies for working on
Thousands of Android smartphone applications "have secretly been colluding to mine our information," according to researchers at Virginia Tech, who released a new study funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) this week. The study looked at more than 110,000 pairs of Android apps, "including 100,206 of Google Play’s most popular apps and … Continue reading Android apps ‘colluding’ to share data without permission, study says
Last year, U.S. police used a robot to kill someone for the first time following a mass shooting in Dallas, Texas. Now, this disturbing trend towards automation in policing could move a step further towards normalization. A familiar piece of American foreign policy -- the use of lethal weaponized drones -- may become a part … Continue reading Connecticut bill would allow lethal police drones
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