Tag Archives: North Atlantic Treaty Organization

Social Media and Politics: Truthiness and Astroturfing

By Jeremy Wagstaff (this is a column I wrote back in November. I’m repeating it here because of connections to astroturing in the HBGary/Anonymous case.) Just how social is social media? By which I mean: Can we trust it as a measure of what people think, what they may buy, how they may vote? Or… Read More »

Data, WikiLeaks and War

I’m not going to get into the rights and wrongs of the WikiLeaks thing. Nor am I going to look at the bigger implications for the balance of power between governed and governing, and between the U.S. and its allies and foes. Others have written much better than I can on these topics. I want… Read More »

Social Media and Politics: Truthiness and Astroturfing

(This is a longer version of my syndicated newspaper column) By Jeremy Wagstaff Just how social is social media? By which I mean: Can we trust it as a measure of what people think, what they may buy, how they may vote? Or is it as easy a place to manipulate as the real world?… Read More »

Cyberwar, Or Just a Taste?

Some interesting detail on the Estonian Cyberwar. This ain’t just any old attack. According to Jose Nazario, who works at ARBOR SERT, the attacks peaked a week ago, but aren’t over: As for how long the attacks have lasted, quite a number of them last under an hour. However, when you think about how many… Read More »

Russia Declares Cyberwar?

The Guardian reports on what some are suggesting may the first outbreak of official cyberwar between one country and another, after Russian hackers, official or not, have flooded Estonian websites with Denial of Service attacks (DDoS): clipped from www.guardian.co.uk Without naming Russia, the Nato official said: “I won’t point fingers. But these were not things… Read More »