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posted by martyb on Tuesday October 09 2018, @04:49PM   Printer-friendly
from the usa-usa-usa dept.

In March, the United States Special Operations Command, the section of the Defense Department supervising the US Special Forces, held a conference on the theme of "Sovereignty in the Information Age." The conference brought together Special Forces officers with domestic police forces, including officials from the New York Police Department, and representatives from technology companies such as Microsoft.

This meeting of top military, police and corporate representatives went unreported and unpublicized at the time. However, the Atlantic Council recently published a 21-page document summarizing the orientation of the proceedings. It is authored by John T. Watts, a former Australian Army officer and consultant to the US Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security.

[...] The private sector, therefore, must do the dirty work of the government, because government propaganda is viewed with suspicion by the population. "Business and the private sector may not naturally understand the role they play in combating disinformation, but theirs is one of the most important.... In the West at least, they have been thrust into a central role due to the general public's increased trust in them as institutions."

But this is only the beginning. Online newspapers should "consider disabling commentary systems—the function of allowing the general public to leave comments beneath a particular media item," while social media companies should "use a grading system akin to that used to rate the cleanliness of restaurants" to rate their users' political statements.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/10/05/pers-o05.html


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 09 2018, @07:05PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 09 2018, @07:05PM (#746562)

    Thanks for the rundown.

    As much as I dislike Violently Imposed Monopoly guy and the ideological naivete there is something to be said for reducing the hierarchical command structure that humanity has grown so comfortable with. It is pretty basic human nature, people look for leaders. However, as with the rest of society we need to use our intelligence to patch up the flaws in the system. We need a better feedback loop for citizens to interact with government. The general populace should be able to put the breaks on war, we should never have gone into Vietnam.

    It is a tough problem, sometimes what is needed is one person to make the tough choice, but then again that is so rarely needed that we shouldn't base our entire society around the concept.

  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday October 09 2018, @10:17PM

    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Tuesday October 09 2018, @10:17PM (#746663) Journal

    The problem with guys like Mr. Vim is they have a small kernel of truth, but they surround it by a giant, rancid overripe avocado of bullshit, much of which is contradictory to the truth they insist they are working to preserve and promote. This is something I've noticed with the right-wingers I've interacted with who aren't actually sociopaths: there is much to be said for controlling immigration, making sure a social safety net isn't abused, and cultivating personal responsibility.

    What I see in people like this is something like an ideological autoimmune disorder. They've got the metaphorical immune response, which is good (and yes, I would characterize many people on the social and economic left as being metaphorically immunodeficient...), but it's attacking things it shouldn't, much too powerfully, and damaging the very basis of itself.

    --
    I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
  • (Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday October 10 2018, @08:30AM

    by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Wednesday October 10 2018, @08:30AM (#746870) Homepage Journal

    The great thing about artificial intelligence as well as progress in control systems is that when a future American President decides to ensure their place in history by murdering a hundred million foreigners, the American public won't object because none of our children will have their lives put at risk.

    --
    Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]