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Russia's Former KGB Invests In Political Propaganda Spambots
An anonymous reader writes "The newspaper Kommersant reports that the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (formerly part of the KGB) has invested 30 million roubles (USD $940,000) on 'blog and social network intelligence' programs (Google translation of Russian original). A small part of that money is used for surveillance and analytics, but 22 million roubles (USD $690,000) is invested in 'mass distribution of messages in social networks with a view to the formation of public opinion.' Which presumably can be rephrased as 'launching massive pro-Kremlin astroturfing propaganda spambots in order to stifle and undermine political dissent.' The brazen Russian government acknowledgement of this investment indicates that the Kremlin does not think of such activities to be in any way illegal or unethical. No words whether these spambots would respect any anti-spam laws or the Terms and Conditions of victim websites. But hey, now you can accuse anyone you disagree with online of being a 'KGB bot'!"
So who is going to be the first one to restart Kremvax?
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BMO
In Putin's Russia, Twitter Updates You...
This mr. Anonymous Reader does not have a clue. With the military budget of the US, they could do:
- http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2011/11/04/the-cia-is-watching-us-intelligence-teams-monitor-5-million-tweets-every-day/
- http://www.theinsider.org/news/article.asp?id=2229
- http://mashable.com/2012/05/23/fbi-spy-on-skype/
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-operation-social-networks
etc
If the FBI and CIA could do it for a lousy 1 million dollar, they'd chosen for this option too. This indicates the CIA and FBI do not think of such activities to be in any way illegal or unethical, but that they are inefficient.
I must strongly disagree. In my analysis, strong AI doesn't exist outside of science fiction novellas, and thus furthermore and therefore is a ridiculous accusation to make. I urge you my dear and wonderful readers, to ignore the implausible and outlandish statements made by the anonymous coward in the parent comment. Every nuance of his or her preposterous claims only further their own inherent absurdity.
Seriously? It's been more than 20 years, how long does it take for you Americans to move on from your Cold War Hollywood production induced knowledge base of the world? Next, you'll find out that CIA spends millions on recruitment and *gasp* pro-WhiteHouse astroturfing propaganda in order to stifle and undermine political dissent.
So instead of a link to the original story we get a link to Google translate?
the US uses a strong AI
Only for the voices in your head.
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BMO
In America, Facebook shares tank. In Russia, tank shares Facebook.
__
Big apple, new Yorik, undig it, something's unrotting in Edenmark.
It appears that the Russians are working to restore and update the Russian nee Soviet state's ability to conduct political warfare, which was quite powerful. Some of the lies they spread have yet to die down. Since the Russian state seems to heading back towards Soviet methods and attitudes, everyone should be concerned.
Soviets Sponsor Spread of AIDS Disinformation
A Soviet political warfare manual comments on 'socialist education'
Soviet methods did not spare their allies.
A Portrait of Stalin: Secret Police
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
At least the russians are transparent about it. How many governments do it in the shadow?
Argentina government since a couple of years ago is known to infiltrate twitter and facebook with thousands of fake virtual accounts that supports (spanish) the current government. They also have an army of people actively checking internet and posting in forums, they discovered them by correlation with working hours (nobody post after 6 pm, nicks are auto-generated using a known algorithm and stuff like that)
I bet they use a software package for this purposes. Didn't Palantir offered something like this?
So the Russian secret service does the same shit companies do. they want to bend public opinion in their direction. However, normally (as in Western countries) governments do not need to do that, because the media is on their side (or to be more precise the government is on the side of the media). So the move in Russia indicates, that the mass population moves away from classic media as their source of information towards other platforms and therefore they have to control those too. So in short. They control the media (as like in a dictatorship) and now this Internet thing causes disruption. So they try to control it too.
What shall I say? I am not surprised. I am only surprised that it came out. But, I guess that does not hurt the endeavor.
indicates that the Kremlin does not think of such activities to be in any way illegal or unethical
I have to confess that I did feel a little bit queasy reading what Timothy has posted
This world that we live in today, where "paid reviews", "forum astroturfing", "blog spamming" and "rabid fanboyism" are been actively encouraged and sponsored by for profit corporations such as Microsoft, Adobe, Apple Inc., - mainly from the Western democracies - any effort in linking Russia to similar "illegal" and/or "unethical" activities is futile
It was the West who have fine-tuned activities such as being described in TFA to an art-form, in the first place
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
In my analysis, strong AI doesn't exist outside of science fiction novellas, and thus furthermore and therefore is a ridiculous accusation to make.
The way you write makes me want to punch you. " thus furthermore and therefore", really?
I agree with you, yours, yourself and those who bear a yoursimilitude to you. The above poster, writer, author of the comment referred to, listed and discussed has undercut, severed and bisected his own cogent word assembly through unnecessarily, avoidable and inessential verbal repetition. And while hyperbole was the purpose, object and function of the conjunctions, and I can understand feeling frustrated, angry or annoyed, I feel that physical violence is an inappropriate, disproportional and incongruous conclusion, ceasing, cessation, close, closure, completion, consequence, culmination, desistance, ending, finale, finish, issue, outcome, result, and end.
Big apple, new Yorik, undig it, something's unrotting in Edenmark.
No, the US government spends vastly more money on this kind of thing. $940K is barely even a rounding error in the federal propaganda budget.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
No, the US government spends vastly more money on this kind of thing. $940K is barely even a rounding error in the federal propaganda budget.
-jcr
Indeed, and we're brazen about it, too.
The difference I see is that Russian news doesn't blatantly lead into news stories with comments like, "The same government that corralled natives away from most of the country and then conducted germ warfare against them...". Or, "The ex-Opium War aggressor today is making news with...". At least not since the USSR.
Americans and other native anglophones of all stripes love them some Russophobia (which is why I'll probably be modded down), and they'll find opportunities to serve it up with just about anything. The only way that Russian characters ever seem to be redeemed on US television shows is if they have emigrated to an anglophone country, or are trying to do so. A Russian who wants to stay a Russian national (or to belong to another non-English speaking country) is portrayed as a villain -- every single time I have viewed.
RU is late to the game, 'mass distribution of messages in social networks with a view to the formation of public opinion.'
Sometimes I suspect MS, other businesses/lobbyist, mega-churches, and PACs, are already acting like government G2Agencies on /., Facebook, Twitter, Wired ... with automated SocialPolicyAgents (SPAgents).
So, why argue with GIGO SPAgents? SPAgents work in the best interest of a few of the $public$.
Unaccountable leaders are masters, and unrepresented people are slaves. How do US and EU fare?
The western capitalist system has no need for state propaganda. The masses are all to happy to watch, devour no worship the opinions and lifestyles of the 1% who tell them that the 1% deserve to be the top and everyone else has a chance too even if they never ever get even remotely close with their part time burger flipping job.
What am I talking about? Media. Name ONE person in Media who makes less then 100.000 dollars per year. One TV celeb, just ONE! In many ways, Reality TV is a very risky move, showing the non-1% and allowing them to speak? Showing that work is hard and dangerous and it never gets any better? OOPS! Ah but luckily, reality stars get payed big, so soon they are the 1% too.
Public opinion in the West is made on TV and TV makes big money for all involved. Of course they are going to be pro-big money. It is like asking Oprah on how to make it from day to day with just 2 dollars per day for food. She eats ten dollars in a single snack. She hasn't lived the live of her audience in decades.
And she is not alone. Rappers? The ones you know ain't from the hood anymore, they live in guarded mansions and drive in armored cars.
American propaganda is simple, it shows only the lottery winners, 1 lucky winner won 300 million! Watch and admire him and aspire to do the same. Saying tat 300 million people lost a dollar they could have spend better... that would not be such a good ad.
Everyone who you see in America on TV, has made it. What better way to indoctrinate the American Dream.
But hey, why believe me, I am posting on the blogsite of poster boys of the American Dream. After all, they made it, so so could you. Right? It couldn't possibly be that the 1% by definition will always be the 1%? Nah, that is commy thinking. Everyone can be the 1% if they just work hard.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
I thought AI never use contractions.
No, that's just Star Trek. You have to take Star Trek with a grain of salt. I mean, it's a fictional world where somehow they figured out strong AI before they figured out how to give an android a realistic skin tone and where they all run around with iPads but still use flip phones to talk to the ship.
Big apple, new Yorik, undig it, something's unrotting in Edenmark.