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Are there any ongoing efforts to disrupt PR schemes like this? I'd like to see the public less easily manipulated but I'm not sure where to start. (And, technic
by sarciszewski 12y ago
Are there any ongoing efforts to disrupt PR schemes like this? I'd like to see the public less easily manipulated but I'm not sure where to start. (And, technically, not sure that I'm not also being manipulated.)
- rayiner 12y agoI don't think this amounts to manipulation of the public, since it's an attempt to get truthful information out into the public. Rather it's politics--like getting your friend to ask someone else's friend if she likes you. People on HN tend to frown on this sort of politics. I'd posit that such attitudes are counter-productive. If you forced Americans to choose between two black or white options: security or liberty, you might very well not like the outcome. Sympathy towards people who leak national security information is not such a popular position that an agency can shout it from the rooftops. If you make more subtle disclosures untenable, the outcome might not work out in your favor.
- sarciszewski 12y agoSorry, I should have clarified: Any tool or technique can (will?) be employed by either side. I moreso wanted to know: when the security > liberty fanatics employ it against us, how can we best disrupt it?
- alexqgb 12y agoThere's also a problem with hardline Conservatives who see Snowden as a out-and-out traitor, don't see a major problem with a heavily police-friendly state, and are generally looking for any means to bash the President for not being "tough enough" with "the bad guys". This can be a good way of saying what lot of people need and want to hear without giving the poo-flinging trolls a clear target for their displeasure.