Quote: (12-10-2016 12:06 PM)Sosa Wrote:
Samseau posted this has gone viral - and I think for good reason. This was significant news. Mike Cernovich considers the Portman/Murphy anti-propaganda act an "in run around the first amendment" and quite possibly the "greatest threat to Free speech In my entire in my life."
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At the very least, this is a major concern. You give them an inch, and they'll take a mile. These could very well be the first steps to future totalitarian and tyrannical legislation in which the Government would self police what is "disinformation."
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The OP indicates he is in Ukraine. Could be an ethnic Russian in Donetsk doing informal information ops for all we know.
Actually, I'm an American who's been studying in Ukraine for the past year. I've met and gamed with over 20 members on this Forum who can vouch for me, and I couldn't be any further from being an Ethnic Russian in Donetsk. Next time consider a pm before you start publicly speculating the ethnicity and intentions of another member.
Admittedly I'm not a professional writer, and in hindsight the original thread title might of unknowingly been over the top. However your accusations of me clickbaiting or causing hysteria is misplaced and false. I have absolutely no incentive monetarily or otherwise to do so. I simply read the press release and wanted to share and contribute to the other members of the forum.
So you are American? I am surprised. It sucks having your motivations and actions shown in a false light, huh, like you did to the whole US Congress? Sorry for that.
As for Mike's take, I hate Periscope and podcasts, waste of time unless you're just listening to one while driving. Mike's is a good example of why they suck. Mike rambles on, and it takes 15 minutes to say what could be written in two paragraphs.
I had to listen to it, because Mike's a lawyer and I thought maybe he had seen something in the law I missed.
But in this case Mike is full of shit, so the value of the time listening to him hysterically rant for 15 minutes is less than zero. He says that people will be imprisoned, fined, there will be censorship. Total bullshit. It's not a criminal law. It has no penal provisions, no fines, no terms of imprisonment. It will not "take out free speech in America," "label all independent media as Russian propaganda. It will not "fine, outlaw, make you a criminal."
He's a lawyer, should know better. I doubt he's read the bill. If he has, he is lying. He's gone downhill from the days when he was sticking to the truth.
Again, here is the text of the bill. I am putting it out there for anyone to read:
[url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/5181/text]Countering Foreign Propaganda and Disinformation Act of 2016
The bill does two significant things, aside from providing for staff members and interagency coordination:
1. Establishes a bureau called the "Center for Information Analysis and Response" within the U.S. Department of State (State is equivalent to a Ministry for Foreign Affairs, for you non-US people)
The Center is to do this, from the law:
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(b) Functions.—The Center shall carry out the following functions:
(1) Integrating interagency efforts to track and evaluate counterfactual narratives abroad that threaten the national security interests of the United States and United States allies.
(2) Collecting, integrating, and analyzing relevant information, including intelligence reporting, data, analysis, and analytics from United States Government agencies, allied nations, think-tanks, academic institutions, civil society groups, and other nongovernmental organizations.
(3) Developing and disseminating fact-based narratives and analysis to counter propaganda and disinformation directed at United States allies and partners.
(4) Identifying current and emerging trends in foreign propaganda and disinformation, including the use of print, broadcast, online and social media, support for third-party outlets such as think tanks, political parties, and nongovernmental organizations, and the use of covert or clandestine special operators and agents to influence targeted populations and governments in order to coordinate and shape the development of tactics, techniques, and procedures to expose and refute foreign misinformation and disinformation and proactively promote fact-based narratives and policies to audiences outside the United States.
(5) Facilitating the use of a wide range of technologies and techniques by sharing expertise among agencies, seeking expertise from external sources, and implementing best practices.
(6) Identifying gaps in United States capabilities in areas relevant to the Center’s mission and recommending necessary enhancements or changes.
(7) Identifying the countries and populations most susceptible to foreign government propaganda and disinformation.
(8) Administering the information access fund established pursuant to subsection (e).
(9) Coordinating with allied and partner nations, particularly those frequently targeted by foreign disinformation operations, and international organizations and entities such as the NATO Center of Excellence on Strategic Communications, the European Endowment for Democracy, and the European External Action Service Task Force on Strategic Communications, in order to amplify the Center’s efforts and avoid duplication.
Note the
"audiences outside the United States." This Center is really like reestablishing the old U.S. Information Agency, which was the Cold War "white" (non-clandestine) propaganda agency.
2. The law establishes a grant funding mechanism, the "Information Access Fund." $10 million per year, funded for two years initially. This could be doled out many way, either to American Beltway Bandits doing overseas work, or to local media, universities, NGOs through US Embassies. US grant funding rules will require disclosure of who the grantees are. You can look US govt. grantees up here:
http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/search-grants.html
Again, this is the text of that part of the bill:
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(e) Information Access Fund.—
(1) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of State for fiscal years 2017 and 2018 $20,000,000 to support the Center and provide grants or contracts of financial support to civil society groups, journalists, nongovernmental organizations, federally funded research and development centers, private companies, or academic institutions for the following purposes:
(A) To support local independent media who are best placed to refute foreign disinformation and manipulation in their own communities.
(B) To collect and store examples in print, online, and social media, disinformation, misinformation, and propaganda directed at the United States and its allies and partners.
© To analyze tactics, techniques, and procedures of foreign government information warfare with respect to disinformation, misinformation, and propaganda.
(D) To support efforts by the Center to counter efforts by foreign governments to use disinformation, misinformation, and propaganda to influence the policies and social and political stability of the United States and United States allies and partners.
(2) FUNDING AVAILABILITY AND LIMITATIONS.—All organizations that apply to receive funds under this subsection must undergo a vetting process in accordance with the relevant existing regulations to ensure their bona fides, capability, and experience, and their compatibility with United States interests and objectives.
Now, Samseau tweeted out that this was going to be some subsidy of big media, I guess before he read the bill, so he's invested in that interpretation.
Here's a good rule:
Never buy someone else's spin on a law until you read the law itself.
The law is directed overseas, to local media, NGOs and institutions. It's not directed to US media, because (1) section (b)(4) of the law says the activities of the Center are directed to "audiences outside the US" and (2) the Department of State is the foreign affairs agency of the US Government.
Samseau questions my take on $20 million over two years as a piddling amount. I've been on the inside on this kind of thing, and once you're done paying for consultants for $300 - $1000 per day, administrative overhead for Beltway Bandits (Google the term), travel and living expenses at the US gov
per diem rate, you're not talking about much.
This is maybe five grants a year to US overseas contractors, or a bunch of $100,000+ grants to local NGOs and media in, say, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Hong Kong, Philippines, or Estonia.
Saying this is censoring anything or subsidizing CNN or the NYT is total bullshit.
Sorry for bringing the truth to spoil your outrage and hysteria.