I have written extensively about how dot-govs are passively listening to all that happens on social media. They mine way more data being passive than they would by any active engagement as Jason suggests. I am currently writing about many of the social media's transparency reports, including Twitters.
The phases of cyberwar: first comes the passive-aggression. Statements that seem to be not directed at anyone in particular, but in fact, they really are. Second, the insults and direct verbal war. And third, as Mitch has said, the hacking begins.
I'm sure the US will someday use Twitter, Tumblr or whatever the latest social media platforms are to influence and inform. What fascinates me is the pooling of information, okay - propaganda, that collectively results from several sources pushing out content via social media. The varying views en masse have the potential to tell the holistic truth with the result leading to more global transparency than we've ever experienced before.
The goal, as Dratwa explained it, is twofold: to get Israel's narrative out in real time, as people read about red alerts in Tel Aviv and rocket landings in Gaza on Twitter, and to cut out the middleman of "old media" in communicating with pro-Israel activists. "What we try to do is to be fast and get information out before the old media," Dratwa told me. "We believe people are getting information from social media platforms and we don't want them to get it from other sources—we are the ones on the scene, and the old media are not on the scene as are the IDF."
It's not immediately clear what concrete impact the IDF's Twitter battles are having on the course of public opinion. Foreign journalists have been allowed to enter Gaza during Operation Pillar of Defense—a change from Israeli policy during Operation Cast Lead, when foreign journalists were barred from Gaza—resulting in a steady stream of gripping footage and images from the territory. But the IDF boasts 185,150 Twitter followers viewing its stream of videos, photos, and updates, which includes information from the front and frequent reminders of Israel's ongoing provision of food and medical services to Gazan civilians.
And while they have all expressed their commitment to free speech in some form or another, they have absolutely no obligation to uphold that, or to tell users when information has been removed, or why.
We may have disrupted our old information gatekeepers — newspapers, television, even governments — but in many ways we have just exchanged them for shiny new ones. And they are just as inscrutable, if not more so.
Good point, if the U.S. government does one day engage in image engineering via say live-blogging military actions on Twitter/Tumblr, then it could be accused of pressuring such services (as they're domestic) to skew the coverage.
Of course I would be high wary of such claims given that I think the companies involved would complain -- just look at how vigorously Google resists DMCA takedown notices and other forms of potential censorship.
I do think, in a sense, such image engineering is somewhat inevitable for the U.S. military as it becomes more ubiquitous...
That still remains the big question. Social network operators are naturally all for freedom and controlling them in one jurisdiction doesn't mean they can be controlled in all jurisdiction. If i know one thing about America, they're prolly never going to be the censoring one and yet it is arguably (or not) the most influential country on the internet. Which to me looks like if the US was to actively take interest in cyber warfare it would be great disaster.
That aside, these popular social networks don't work on their own but rather interface with other smaller autonomous ones where worse things can be done.
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Recently, the Obama administration has been of two minds where privacy rights are concerned. On one hand, you have an administration that vowed to veto CISPA and mandated open data for government websites. On the other hand, you have an increasingly out-of-control Department of Justice on a fishing expedition at AP and demanding legislation to let the FBI wiretap private, encrypted communications and levy fines if a company fails to comply.
The apartment and house sharing service, Airbnb, now requires members to verify their identities by demonstrating a presence on the web, and by either scanning a government ID or entering detailed personal details. Other enterprises should take a close look at Airbnb's verification policies.
Facebook advertising is a lightning rod. It seems neither brands nor consumers are 100 percent happy about the social media site's policies, placement, or procedures. But the real controversy about Facebook ads and promotions is over whether they work.
By now, you've most likely heard about the 3D-printed gun that Texas-based Defense Distributed demonstrated last week. But we haven't heard the last about the censorship war that began soon afterward.
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is conducting a pilot test of digital kiosks to guide subway users to where they want to go more efficiently and at lower cost.
The whole Amazon.reader debate is a double-stupid. It's stupid to think that there's any e-book buyer who doesn't know Amazon's URL, and it was stupider to let ICANN launch the whole free-form TLD initiative to start with.
While NFC's original goal was to enhance mobile commerce applications, it is finding its way into a number of other uses, which is creating both opportunity as well as challenges for IT departments.
Enterprises would like to move to cloud computing but are hesitant because they are concerned about providers’ ability to secure company data. Here are some tips that help to ensure that if breaches occur, the business is not left holding the bag.
Edmunds separates customers into segments based on the info it collects on its site and from partners, and uses that to push out custom content, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
The automotive website uses propensity modeling to target ads and customer registration forms, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
Subsidized handsets, rather than locked handsets, should be the focus of regulators. We're not getting good deals, not fostering innovation, and weakening our power as buyers.
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