Top Concerns for Democracy, Peace, and Humanity: Misinformation, Disinformation, and Influence Operations
Description of talk
Talk given on 10/02/2020 for the UMass Amherst Cybersecurity Club. Event webpage
Recently, the Director of the NSA ranked combating misinformation, disinformation, and influence operations as a top priority for the prosperity of United States. And, rightly so. As our lives move more-and-more online, we rely more-and-more upon the information provided to us via online sources. Even seemingly innocent or non-biased online information sources have fallen victim to strong undercurrents of information warfare. The consequences of false or misleading information online have wide-ranging and profound negative impacts upon human affairs. Most simply, reasonable people have completely different versions of basic facts, resulting in opinions and decisions based on the different versions of facts.
In this talk, Marvin Cable, Esq., will present the current state of information warfare and its pressing threat to the prosperity of humanity. If the current trend continues, as suggested by knowledgeable intellectuals, we may see civil war, not only in our country, but in many others around the world, as these issues threaten the foundation of government processes and catalyzes civil distrust in governments. Further, common issues like viruses, health-care, global warming, and human rights, will be subject to the will of irrational or dysfunctional decision-making. And, these are just a few of the issues – the list of potential negative impacts is long. To keep this talk focused, however, Cable will primarily focus on major threats that Misinformation, Disinformation, and Influence Operations has and will have in the short-term future, specifically in 2020 and the next several years.
Marvin Cable is a lecturer at the College of Information and Computer Sciences, University of Massachusetts – Amherst, a top-tier institution dedicated to computing for the common good. Currently, during this fall 2020 semester, Cable spends his time teaching two courses: Internet Law & Policy (COMPSCI 563) and Computer Crime Law (COMPSCI 391L).