Check This Out! Cyber Disinformation
I read The Sift's article about the recent rise in government usage of cyber-disinformation and discussion of how to combat it. It discussed the proliferation of the technique and pointed to a few examples of cyber disinformation and how they were identified as fake.
It seems that as we become more interconnected through the internet, the influence of soft cyber power is growing substantially. Tools exist more than ever to spread a lie not just among your own community, but among the entire world. At the same time though, the ability to spread truth is much greater too. I respect what The Sift is doing spreading education on how to fact check online, because if people can avoid being deceived, the internet can be a massive tool for good.
That said, there is definitely a lot of challenge in educating the masses on fact checking. It's definitely not an easy skill, especially when dealing with committed liars, and in order to effectively spread truth its necessary to teach everyone who uses the internet the skill. Not only this, but given the effort it takes to learn and put into practice, it will be necessary to convince people it's worth it. People can't be expected to fact check every single thing they read, after all.
It seems that deception has always been a thing in politics, even though it's been given a new way to be distributed by the internet. Historically, people don't seem to have been any better at handling it before the rise of the internet. I think lies have always and will always be a thing, independent of truth. However, the ability to spread more truth to more people will always be good.
It seems that as we become more interconnected through the internet, the influence of soft cyber power is growing substantially. Tools exist more than ever to spread a lie not just among your own community, but among the entire world. At the same time though, the ability to spread truth is much greater too. I respect what The Sift is doing spreading education on how to fact check online, because if people can avoid being deceived, the internet can be a massive tool for good.
That said, there is definitely a lot of challenge in educating the masses on fact checking. It's definitely not an easy skill, especially when dealing with committed liars, and in order to effectively spread truth its necessary to teach everyone who uses the internet the skill. Not only this, but given the effort it takes to learn and put into practice, it will be necessary to convince people it's worth it. People can't be expected to fact check every single thing they read, after all.
It seems that deception has always been a thing in politics, even though it's been given a new way to be distributed by the internet. Historically, people don't seem to have been any better at handling it before the rise of the internet. I think lies have always and will always be a thing, independent of truth. However, the ability to spread more truth to more people will always be good.
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