5 ms·

Indeed, real-time data mining is very interesting, however real-time data manipulation is far more sinister. Imagine for a moment if the middle eastern governme

by ihsw 13y ago

Indeed, real-time data mining is very interesting, however real-time data manipulation is far more sinister. Imagine for a moment if the middle eastern governments could "detect" when an Arab Spring is happening and they had systems that would autonomously respond by (for example) spreading propaganda and censoring popular pages. The anti-virus comparison is a misnomer as it stands to reason that such systems would be more akin to intrusion detection systems (IDSs) or intrusion prevention systems (IPSs) that are actively monitoring and isolating certain system resources and services.

knowaveragejoe 13y ago
While scary, I think such a system is a long ways off. It's one thing to siphon raw bits flowing through an IXP for later analysis, and another entirely to censor specific pieces of content based on keywords(assuming of course you can't or don't want to simply censor entire domains). It would require a pretty cozy relationship between government and telecoms(already in place in some countries, of course) in the form of some staff to keep afoot of new content that may need to be censored. Automating that part implies that the government would have a list of sensitive, potentially damning subjects that are not publicly known in order to preemptively censor them. Replacing that content with propaganda would be even more complex(and potentially vulnerable to discovery).
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
grecy 13y ago
The UK Government has already considered shutting down Twitter when it needs to [1] and I Think it's common knowledge that certain cell towers are turned off when a local hot spot of political action pops up (Occupy). If you remove a person's ability to access information, that's the same as censorship. [1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8705281/Scotland-Yard-considered-shutting-down-Twitter.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8705281/Scotlan...

by ihsw 13y ago

knowaveragejoe 13y ago

While scary, I think such a system is a long ways off. It's one thing to siphon raw bits flowing through an IXP for later analysis, and another entirely to censor specific pieces of content based on keywords(assuming of course you can't or don't want to simply censor entire domains). It would require a pretty cozy relationship between government and telecoms(already in place in some countries, of course) in the form of some staff to keep afoot of new content that may need to be censored. Automating that part implies that the government would have a list of sensitive, potentially damning subjects that are not publicly known in order to preemptively censor them. Replacing that content with propaganda would be even more complex(and potentially vulnerable to discovery).

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

grecy 13y ago

The UK Government has already considered shutting down Twitter when it needs to [1] and I Think it's common knowledge that certain cell towers are turned off when a local hot spot of political action pops up (Occupy). If you remove a person's ability to access information, that's the same as censorship. [1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8705281/Scotland-Yard-considered-shutting-down-Twitter.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8705281/Scotlan...