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I've read that the 2013 NDAA passed by Congress removed the ban on propaganda targeted at domestic audiences. I'm not entirely sure if that's true, but there a

I've read that the 2013 NDAA passed by Congress removed the ban on propaganda targeted at domestic audiences. I'm not entirely sure if that's true, but there are several places online claiming this. Wikipedia mentions it as well [0]. Anecdotally, around that time Google News started indexing Voice of America, which is funded by the US government [1]. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Defense_Authorization_Act_for_Fiscal_Year_2013 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Defense_Authorizati... [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_of_America https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_of_America

ickwabe 10y ago
Also... https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/07/14/u-s-repeals-propaganda-ban-spreads-government-made-news-to-americans/ https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/07/14/u-s-repeals-propaganda-...
tptacek 10y ago
Not really. It remains unlawful to appropriate funds (or use appropriated funds) to influence US public opinion. The problem the legislation tried to solve was that material meant for foreign consumption is, in the Internet era, overwhelmingly likely to find its way to a domestic audience, and the plain text of the law prior to the NDAA forbad any such material --- it was a practical problem for State and the BBG. The 2013 NDAA amended the law to allow the State Department and the Broadcasting Board Of Governors to disseminate material meant for foreign audiences domestically, using domestic services like Youtube, &c. Fun fact: the Broadcasting Board of Governors also pays for free crypto audits (from some very strong firms) for privacy and anonymity tools. Virtually all the privacy tools you've heard about have had several tens of thousands of dollars worth of audit dollars spent by the BBG to make sure they're not endangering people. So far as I know --- I've participated in a couple of these audits, but never been a recipient of one --- these are no-strings-attached.
- Tiksi 10y ago
  >Fun fact: the Broadcasting Board of Governors also pays for free crypto audits (from some very strong firms) for privacy and anonymity tools. Virtually all the privacy tools you've heard about have had several tens of thousands of dollars worth of audit dollars spent by the BBG to make sure they're not endangering people. Are the reports from these audits publicly available? Seems like it would be an interesting bit of data to read through.
  - tptacek 10y ago
    I don't know; I know they're sent directly to the projects, and I know some of them have been made public, but I don't know if all of them have.
    - Tiksi 10y ago
      Thanks, I'll have to look into that. I didn't really expect them to be in a centralized public place but had a sliver of hope that they might be.
  - secfirstmd 10y ago
    It's not the BBG exactly, it's the Open Tech Fund via Radio Free Asia. Our audit is here: https://secfirst.org/blog.html https://secfirst.org/blog.html I think Cryptocat and a few others have published their audits also. The companies who conducted them have them on their site if I recall.
    - tptacek 10y ago
      I believe (corrections welcome) that OTF is RFA, and RFA is an offshoot of BBG.
      - secfirstmd 10y ago
        Yep
    - Tiksi 10y ago
      Thanks for the info, I'll have to read up on that. As a side note, Radio Free Asia seems like an unusual organization to be funding security audits.

ickwabe 10y ago

Also... https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/07/14/u-s-repeals-propaganda-ban-spreads-government-made-news-to-americans/ https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/07/14/u-s-repeals-propaganda-...

tptacek 10y ago

Not really. It remains unlawful to appropriate funds (or use appropriated funds) to influence US public opinion. The problem the legislation tried to solve was that material meant for foreign consumption is, in the Internet era, overwhelmingly likely to find its way to a domestic audience, and the plain text of the law prior to the NDAA forbad any such material --- it was a practical problem for State and the BBG. The 2013 NDAA amended the law to allow the State Department and the Broadcasting Board Of Governors to disseminate material meant for foreign audiences domestically, using domestic services like Youtube, &c. Fun fact: the Broadcasting Board of Governors also pays for free crypto audits (from some very strong firms) for privacy and anonymity tools. Virtually all the privacy tools you've heard about have had several tens of thousands of dollars worth of audit dollars spent by the BBG to make sure they're not endangering people. So far as I know --- I've participated in a couple of these audits, but never been a recipient of one --- these are no-strings-attached.

Tiksi 10y ago
>Fun fact: the Broadcasting Board of Governors also pays for free crypto audits (from some very strong firms) for privacy and anonymity tools. Virtually all the privacy tools you've heard about have had several tens of thousands of dollars worth of audit dollars spent by the BBG to make sure they're not endangering people. Are the reports from these audits publicly available? Seems like it would be an interesting bit of data to read through.
- tptacek 10y ago
  I don't know; I know they're sent directly to the projects, and I know some of them have been made public, but I don't know if all of them have.
  - Tiksi 10y ago
    Thanks, I'll have to look into that. I didn't really expect them to be in a centralized public place but had a sliver of hope that they might be.
- secfirstmd 10y ago
  It's not the BBG exactly, it's the Open Tech Fund via Radio Free Asia. Our audit is here: https://secfirst.org/blog.html https://secfirst.org/blog.html I think Cryptocat and a few others have published their audits also. The companies who conducted them have them on their site if I recall.
  - tptacek 10y ago
    I believe (corrections welcome) that OTF is RFA, and RFA is an offshoot of BBG.
    - secfirstmd 10y ago
      Yep
  - Tiksi 10y ago
    Thanks for the info, I'll have to read up on that. As a side note, Radio Free Asia seems like an unusual organization to be funding security audits.