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Dear Colleagues,
As always, we hope that these weekly links focused on what is currently happening in the information environment prove to be helpful to you and the good work you do.
"Hi Vladimir [sic], Elijah here," starts the video of Elijah Wood allegedly speaking to President Zelensky and encouraging the President to get help for his 'drug and alcohol problem'. An app called Cameo provides a platform where you can create relatively low-cost videos that appear to be delivered by celebrities. Russia has been using this tool to create these types of propaganda videos and then playing them widely on government supported media outlets. The app was probably not created to be a hybrid warfare tool - but here it is. Our predictions about how AI will be used in information warfare can never keep up with the actual progression of it.
From ARLIS at the University of Maryland, one of our ongoing partners, is a short video talking about those stinkin' cute cat videos. Yes, they're cute. Those big eyes, and funny sweaters, it draws on emotions. The team at ARLIS is studying what effect these 'awww cute' emotions have on the ability to influence. This is a relatively new science, looking at positive emotions impact on behavior rather than the negative ones we usually see studied. Makes you notice now all the cat and puppy images that have been portrayed in media postings of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Finally, an article from the Electronic Frontier Foundation reminds us that when we give our friends tech-y gifts for the holidays, we may be giving them more than we mean to. Those of you working in information are keenly aware of data spills and collections that may come from your friendly speaker device, Ring camera, or even digital photo frame; but your family might not be. Additionally, as companies are bought and sold, whatever privacy conditions a user agrees to at the time of purchase and installation of these products, may not be the same later on. Apologies if their warnings make your holiday shopping even more complex than it already was.
Stay safe, stay healthy, and stay diligent,
Dr. Ryan Maness
Rebecca Lorentz
DoD ISRC at The Naval Postgraduate School
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Compiled and summarized by Rebecca Lorentz, Deputy Director for Research, DoD Information Strategy Research Center. Please email tips or contributions to DoDISRC@nps.edu |
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Microsoft Corp. has uncovered a Russian disinformation campaign that made use of celebrity clips commissioned through the Cameo video sharing website.The company detailed its findings today in the latest edition of its biannual report on Russian digital threats. The report is produced by Microsoft’s Threat Analysis Center, which tracks nation-backed hacking and influence campaigns.
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 Video: 4:52
Researchers from University of Maryland’s Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security (ARLIS) are examining how emotional responses from “aww” to “eww” influence how information—and disinformation—is shared on social media.
With the holidays upon us, it's easy to default to giving the tech gifts that retailers tend to push on us this time of year: smart speakers, video doorbells, bluetooth trackers, fitness trackers, and other connected gadgets are all very popular gifts. But before you give one, think twice about what you're opting that person into.
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