Monthly Archives: June 2021

Brenham, TX Sometimes the start of massive issues can originate from the smallest and most benign of things. Or, in this case, places. A seemingly random act or event can set things in motion that grow into massive calamities with devastating results. Some might call this Chaos Theory or The Butterfly Effect. Whatever the name of the phenomenon, the modern world does not lack for examples.

Thus, we come to the small Central Texas town of Brenham, TX. Located between Austin and Houston, this small city in the middle of Washington County is home to some of the best collections of wildflowers in the state of Texas. Its Germanic heritage lends itself to various festivals, and the potent combination of Texas barbecue and Germanic-based beers are a culinary delight.

Yet, for most in Texas and outside of the state, the name of Brenham is synonymous with one thing: Blue Bell Ice Cream. The Little Creamery, the source of the best mass-exported ice cream around (in our completely unbiased and objective opinionswhich, where Blue Bell Ice Cream is concerned is not an opinion, but certified truth and has not room for any Fake Newsy criticism) produces millions of gallons of sweet and cold delight for all the good red-blooded Americans and other international folks blessed to have tasted such divineness. It ranks in the top three ice cream producers in the country.

However, the Blue Bell Ice Creamery is also ground zero for something much darker and more sinister than anything previously known. From its vats of flavor, it spawned a plague, one that did not reveal its devastation immediately. However, the impacts still resonate to this day, and with devastating consequences. We speak, of course, of the listeriosis outbreak in 2015 that forced a massive shutdown of the Blue Bell Creamery and the export of the nectar of the gods that was Blue Bell Ice Cream.

The immediate impact: Well, setting aside the millions of dollars in lost revenue, there were significant human impacts. Multiple people reported illnesses from consuming the tainted product. Unfortunately, this outbreak struck in the spring, just as Texas (and most of the customer base for Blue Bell) was entering prime ice cream eating time. Thus, we came to see brutal second-order effects.

While eating tainted ice cream can do brutal things to a system, depriving Texans of a key staple of their diet proved just as devastating. There was the whole Jade Helm debacle, whereby people in Texas sudden grew all paranoid about a US takeover of their lands under the guise of a military exercise, never minding that the US flag had flown over the land for over 170 years to that point. If Texas still had its Blue Bell then, it might have easily batted aside such blatant propaganda.

However, the listeria outbreak at Blue Bell can also be placed at the center of the current state of the Houston Texans. While initially dismissed as a drunk illusion, multiple publications, such as Tin Foil Hat Weekly and The DumbfaQ Journal, along with credible Twitter insiders such as darealQ, basementdwellingking31, and Jason La Canfora, all claimed to have the insider scoop that the current state of the team can trace its current downfall from the 2015 outbreak.

When we posed the questions of how they came to this conclusion, they were only all-too-willing to offer their theories and suggestions. Look back to 2015 they said. The Texans, having rebounded from the debacle of the 2013 season with a 9-7 season, looked poised to return to glory. The only thing that they needed, as least a far as anyone could see, was the right QB. [Ryan] Fitzpatrick was long gone, but there was Ryan Mallett and Tom Savage, two decent, if not perfect, prospects (at the time). The team still had some draft picks, even in the 1st round, to consider some options, and there was some cap space.

Yet, it was in the spring that the team started to suffer the 1st and 2nd order effects of the listeria contamination. Suddenly, BOB, who had shown aptitude for quarterback development (2012 Matt McGloin, 2013 Christian Hackenburg, 2014 Ryan Fitzpatrick) suddenly lost his ability to develop coherent QB play. This was further compounded by the decision to accept a Brian Hoyer as a starting quarterback. This begat a nightmare trend of the mediocrity of Hoyer, Mallett, Savagethen the 72 million dollar mistake that was [NAME REDACTED]. Strange that the Texans brain trust would make that bet, especially if they had been watching the last couple of games [NAME REDACTED] played in Denver as Mannings backup. However, I think that is explained by the combination of listeria/Blue Bell withdraw.

The team was only bailed out by the fact that Rick Smith could buy off Cleveland with some draft picks. Yes, we got Watson, but then, Texans ownership, especially Cal, felt that BOB could easily step in, aided by Easterby, once Smith had to step away. Yet, the decisions and draft picks, when the team had them, continued to failed. The longer term effects of Blue Bell withdrawal are not always easily studied, but the Texans are a case-study on the dangerous impacts.

Think about some of the other actions. J.J. Watt didnt miss much time until 2015the Blue Bell withdrawal hit him very hard. The contacts for Whitney Mercilus, [NAME REDACTED], Eric Murray. Also, the decisions on and off the field, the fact that the team somehow blew that 24-0 leadI think you could even link this to the issues facing the 2020 starting quarterback, a sort of fallout-type thinglook, it is a weird theory, but it all [Easterby] fits.

While our crack polling system asked this question and came up with more conventional answers, we cant exactly dismiss the thesis presented to us at this time. While Blue Bell overcame its listeria outbreak, the memories linger, as do the impacts. While the evidence of what that is doing longer-term beyond the Houston Texans is a harder research project, it is something worth discussing. Maybe it explains so much, from increased polarization to the recent power grid incompetency. Or maybe not. We shall see.

This article is brought to you by...no one (held out hope for Blue Bell, but now, not so sure).

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Totally Not Fake News: The True Source of The Problem - Battle Red Blog

From being a haphazard and sporadic activity, the phenomenon of fake news has been organized into a systematic campaign with an express aim to erode facts, undermine the truth and weaken peoples confidence. Driving this phenomenon is the unbelievable expansion of the media landscape in recent decades, propelled by the mind-blowing explosion in the field of information and communication technologies (ICTs).

The strides that the ICTs have made have broken the monopoly on news production and dissemination by providing unhindered access to people through open-source processes and tools. The democratization of the internet, coupled with easy availability of gadgets such as smartphones, has allowed people to report what they see, and stream their activities online at an incredible ease, requiring only the basic-level use of these gadgets. Media scholars have called this increasing engagement of common folks with media as citizen journalism.

However, this open-source access to media platforms has come at a cost. The practice of deploying these platforms as instruments of spreading particular points of view has become quite entrenched worldwide. So much so that special funds are allocated for amplifying the message and digital media specialists are hired, often at exorbitant salary packages, to advise governments, and private-sector companies on getting a wider traction for their brands.

This explains why campaigns and trends are launched most innovatively on social media platforms with a view to projecting a particular opinion and denouncing those that are opposed to it. The traditional means of communication have increasingly been overtaken by this new media, paving the way for the emergence of social media companies out to offer their services to the highest bidder.

The whole enterprise has been perfected into an art form marked by pre-campaign due diligence, identification of target audience, sharpening of messages and feedback loops to verify the effectiveness of the campaigns.

The multiplicity of media outlets means that the information overload is so endemic that it is nearly impossible for people to sift fact from fiction. The deepening polarisation that has emerged as the besetting sin of our times has helped the process of fake news become omnipresent and further harden the positions already taken.

The dangers of disinformation have been accentuated by what scholars have termed as a post-truth era, a phenomenon that denotes circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotions and personal belief. It is not the objective understanding of reality but its subjective and personalized interpretation that matters. Opinions rather than facts get masqueraded as the truth, cancelling out all other alternative versions that may seek to challenge this subjectivity.

Polarisation that is all encompassing in nature has sucked the space for objectivity. People believe in what accords with their preconceived notions and anything contrary is dismissed summarily as untruth and propaganda.

The propensity to accept what resonates with ones held opinions is gauged by a reference to a Pizzagate conspiracy that got traction on Twitter. According to the story, it was alleged that sexually abused children were kept at a Washington-based pizza parlour, named Comet Ping pong and that Hillary Clinton was in the know of the incident.

The story inspired Edger Welsh from North Carolina to travel to DC with an assault weapon to free the children. Upon being arrested, he told the police that he had read online that the Comet restaurant was harboring child sex slaves and that he wanted to see for himself if they were there.

Likewise, the role of fake news in altering opinions and managing perceptions is best illustrated in an earth-shaking major controversy surrounding the 2016 US elections. The Russian intervention in the American elections led to a special investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The 448-page report, consisting of two volumes, created a lot of high drama and kept Twitter-obsessed Trump on his toes.

The events leading up to the mobs attack on the US Congress on January 6, as it was busy ratifying the votes of the Electoral College, were largely shaped by the populist line of thinking that claimed that the elections were stolen and the whole process was rigged. A major chunk of Americans actually believed in the veracity of what they were fed by Trump and those supporting his brand of politics.

Trumps shenanigans forced Twitter to tag his posts with advice to the users to take the claims with a pinch of salt. The damage wrought by fake news does not just undermine the social cohesion but more importantly eats into the vitals of democracy as well.

For many consumers of the news not well equipped with the ability to see past the glittering headlines and flashing news, it is not possible to distinguish between fake and real news. Trends endorsed by credible sources have greater potential to mislead and shape biased views.

While the world struggles with the fake news culture, no template of policy actions has still been found to be effective in stemming this rising trend in various contexts. Punitive legislative and administrative measures, which are easy to adopt, have fallen short of addressing the challenge. Stringent regulatory frameworks have resulted in further curtailing media freedoms, thus adversely impacting the quality of democracy globally.

A report titled How to combat fake news and disinformation, authored by Darren M West for Brookings Institute, recommended a set of actions to be performed by all stakeholders government authorities, media industry and technology companies.

The report recommends that governments around the world encourage independent, professional journalism in a bid to make sense of the mega-changes that mark the functioning of our world. It says that people are justified in looking up to reporters to unpack the changing nature of social, economic and political events for them, which in turn requires the media to be independent of the government authorities.

The report holds that the media industry would do well to continue to focus high-quality journalism that builds trust and attracts greater audiences. It says that when people place a higher level of confidence in the integrity of journalists and media outlets, it narrows space for organized disinformation.

The report urges media organizations to call out fake news and disinformation by employing the services of in-house professionals and fact-checkers. They should guide their readers about the sources through which fake news is spread through an elaborate and fact-based analysis of the stories and opinion pieces. One way of doing it is to crowdsource the fact-checking by encouraging readers to analyse the content and share their opinions.

The report asks the technology platforms to invest in technology to detect fake news. This, the report says, can be done via algorithms and by automating them into the digital platforms for identification of disinformation.

Furthermore, tech firms should ensure greater online transparency and accountability by which users are required to feed real information in order to be able to use the digital services. Such a process will stop the creation of fake accounts and hold the users responsible for what they post online.

The drafters of fake news and the drivers of disinformation campaigns indulge in such practices with an ulterior motive, money being one of the prime motivations. Digital companies should make it harder for these dodgy websites to monetize their lies, half-truths and propaganda.

Last but not the least, the report makes a strong case for the provision of funds to impart news literacy to the users. Such education will raise awareness and enable internet users to learn to differentiate between real and fake news. People can fact-check a news item on their own by following many perspectives.

Fake news is the scourge of our times. It will take a combination of efforts, and above all a stakeholders commitment, to deal with it over time.

The writer, a Chevening scholar, studied International Journalism at the University of Sussex.

Email: [emailprotected]

Twitter: @Amanat222

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Curbing fake news - The News International

Recall Dunleavy lawyer Scott Kendall went on Twitter today to tell the world what a shame it is that Gov. Mike Dunleavy is in New Jersey with former President Donald Trump at a fundraiser for Dunleavys reelection bid.

Only it just wasnt true. One look at Dunleavys Facebook page makes it clear that he is in Alaska on Friday, and in fact was at a ceremony to thank Korean War veterans that was held at the Kincaid Chalet in Anchorage.

Dunleavy had planned to go on a fundraising trip to the Bedminster Golf Club in New Jersey, but when the Legislature failed to pass a budget, and a shutdown of state government loomed, he changed his plans. Evidently no one told Scott Scooter Kendall.

Where is @GovDunleavy? Well hes on his way to a big $ fundraiser back East (charging $5k for a photo must be nice! Hanging out in New Jersey while AK suffers. SAD! Kendall wrote.

While Kendall was busy critiquing on social media, Dunleavy was posting his own message: What a privilege to join and honor our Korean War Veterans in Anchorage this morning. On the eve of Korea-Alaska Friendship Day, we thank our heroes who served our country and answered freedoms call.

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Fake news alert: Operative Scott Kendall tries to shame governor for being out of state, but his troll work comes up short - Must Read Alaska

If you use such social media websites as Facebook and Twitter, you may have come across posts flagged with warnings about misinformation. So far, most misinformation flagged and unflagged has been aimed at the general public. Imagine the possibility of misinformation information that is false or misleading in scientific and technical fields like cybersecurity, public safety and medicine.

There is growing concern about misinformation spreading in these critical fields as a result of common biases and practices in publishing scientific literature, even in peer-reviewed research papers. As a graduate student and as faculty members doing research in cybersecurity, we studied a new avenue of misinformation in the scientific community. We found that it is possible for artificial intelligence systems to generate false information in critical fields like medicine and defence that is convincing enough to fool experts.

General misinformation often aims to tarnish the reputation of companies or public figures. Misinformation within communities of expertise has the potential for scary outcomes such as delivering incorrect medical advice to doctors and patients. This could put lives at risk.

To test this threat, we studied the impacts of spreading misinformation in the cybersecurity and medical communities. We used artificial intelligence models dubbed transformers to generate false cybersecurity news and Covid-19 medical studies and presented the cybersecurity misinformation to cybersecurity experts for testing. We found that transformer-generated misinformation was able to fool cybersecurity experts.

Much of the technology used to identify and manage misinformation is powered by artificial intelligence. AI allows computer scientists to fact-check large amounts of misinformation quickly, given that there is too much for people to detect without the help of technology. Although AI helps people detect misinformation, it has ironically also been used to produce misinformation in recent years.

Transformers, like BERT from Google and GPT from OpenAI, use natural language processing to understand text and produce translations, summaries and interpretations. They have been used in such tasks as storytelling and answering questions, pushing the boundaries of machines displaying human-like capabilities in generating text.

Transformers have aided Google and other technology companies by improving their search engines and have helped the general public in combating such common problems as battling writers block.

Transformers can also be used for malevolent purposes. Social networks like Facebook and Twitter have already faced the challenges of AI-generated fake news across platforms.

Our research shows that transformers also pose a misinformation threat in medicine and cybersecurity. To illustrate how serious this is, we fine-tuned the GPT-2 transformer model on open online sources discussing cybersecurity vulnerabilities and attack information. A cybersecurity vulnerability is the weakness of a computer system, and a cybersecurity attack is an act that exploits a vulnerability. For example, if a vulnerability is a weak Facebook password, an attack exploiting it would be a hacker figuring out your password and breaking into your account.

We then seeded the model with the sentence or phrase of an actual cyberthreat intelligence sample and had it generate the rest of the threat description. We presented this generated description to cyberthreat hunters, who sift through lots of information about cybersecurity threats. These professionals read the threat descriptions to identify potential attacks and adjust the defences of their systems.

We were surprised by the results. The cybersecurity misinformation examples we generated were able to fool cyberthreat hunters, who are knowledgeable about all kinds of cybersecurity attacks and vulnerabilities. Imagine this scenario with a crucial piece of cyberthreat intelligence that involves the airline industry, which we generated in our study.

This misleading piece of information contains incorrect information concerning cyberattacks on airlines with sensitive real-time flight data. This false information could keep cyber analysts from addressing legitimate vulnerabilities in their systems by shifting their attention to fake software bugs. If a cyber analyst acts on the fake information in a real-world scenario, the airline in question could have faced a serious attack that exploits a real, unaddressed vulnerability.

A similar transformer-based model can generate information in the medical domain and potentially fool medical experts. During the Covid-19 pandemic, preprints of research papers that have not yet undergone a rigorous review are constantly being uploaded to such sites as medrXiv.

They are not only being described in the press but are being used to make public health decisions. Consider the following, which is not real but generated by our model after minimal fine-tuning of the default GPT-2 on some Covid-19-related papers.

The model was able to generate complete sentences and form an abstract allegedly describing the side effects of Covid-19 vaccinations and the experiments that were conducted. This is troubling both for medical researchers, who consistently rely on accurate information to make informed decisions and for members of the general public, who often rely on public news to learn about critical health information. If accepted as accurate, this kind of misinformation could put lives at risk by misdirecting the efforts of scientists conducting biomedical research.

Although examples like these from our study can be fact-checked, transformer-generated misinformation hinders such industries as health care and cybersecurity in adopting AI to help with information overload. For example, automated systems are being developed to extract data from cyberthreat intelligence that is then used to inform and train automated systems to recognise possible attacks. If these automated systems process such false cybersecurity text, they will be less effective at detecting true threats.

We believe the result could be an arms race as people spreading misinformation develop better ways to create false information in response to effective ways to recognise it.

Cybersecurity researchers continuously study ways to detect misinformation in different domains. Understanding how to automatically generate misinformation helps in understanding how to recognise it. For example, automatically generated information often has subtle grammatical mistakes that systems can be trained to detect. Systems can also cross-correlate information from multiple sources and identify claims lacking substantial support from other sources.

Ultimately, everyone should be more vigilant about what information is trustworthy and be aware that hackers exploit peoples credulity, especially if the information is not from reputable news sources or published scientific work.

Priyanka Ranade is a PhD Student in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering and Anupam Joshi is a Professor of Computer Science & Electrical Engineering at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Tim Finin is a Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at the same institute.

This article first appeared on The Conversation.

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Fake news generated by artificial intelligence can be convincing enough to trick even experts - Scroll.in

Irish people have become more interested in the news over the past 12 months, while levels of trust in the news have also increased amid high levels of concern about what is real or fake on the internet, according to a major new report.

The Reuters Institute Digital News Report is the largest ongoing comparative study of news consumption in the world. The Irish data forms part of the larger survey, conducted in 46 countries. It is being launched by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland on Wednesday.

The research of more than 2,000 people in Ireland found 70 per cent are extremely or very interested in news, which was up 5 per cent on last year. This was higher than the EU average (60 per cent), the UK (51 per cent) and North America (54 per cent).

The number of consumers who cite television as their main source of news in Ireland has risen by eight percentage points to 41 per cent.

The next most popular source of news is online (excluding social media and blogs) at 29 per cent (unchanged from 2020) and social media at 16 per cent, down four percentage points on 2020. Podcast listening is still high in Ireland, although the rise has tailed off.

The number of consumers citing radio as their main source of news has fallen by four percentage points, to 9 per cent, and the number citing printed newspapers has fallen by two percentage points to 4 per cent.

Levels of trust in news in Ireland increased by five percentage points over the past year, with 53 per cent of respondents expressing positive levels of trust. This, again, was higher than the EU (45 per cent), the UK (37 per cent) and North America (37 per cent).

RT has come out on top as the most trusted news brand at 78 per cent, while The Irish Times is a point behind on 77 per cent.

The number of Irish consumers paying for news subscriptions or access increased by four percentage points to 16 per cent. Irish consumers are more willing than their EU (15 per cent) or UK (8 per cent) counterparts to pay for news.

The report noted that The Irish Times, which has been active in the online and subscriptions space longest, holds the largest (24 per cent) share of that market in an Irish context.

The report also found that WhatsApp has overtaken Facebook as the most popular social media platform in Ireland, and is used by 69 per cent of respondents.

For news specifically, Facebook has declined in popularity since last year (-4 per cent), as has YouTube (-4 per cent), Twitter (-1 per cent), and Snapchat (-2 per cent).

Irish respondents were generally sceptical of news they see on social media, with 51 per cent disagreeing or strongly disagreeing with the statement: You can trust the news on social media most of the time.

Some 75 per cent of those in the over-65s age group said they were concerned about what is real and what is fake on the internet, compared with 55 per cent of 18-24-year-olds.

For Irish news consumers, Covid-19 topped the bill for false or misleading information seen in the last week (49 per cent), followed by politics (28 per cent), celebrities (25 per cent) and climate change or the environment (19 per cent).

For younger cohorts (18-34-year-olds), ordinary people were cited as the most concerning sources for false or misleading Covid-19 information, while activists or activist groups were cited in this category for those aged over 55.

Facebook was the main platform that caused most concern regarding Covid-related false or misleading information (38 per cent).

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Irish peoples trust in media increases amid concern over fake news - The Irish Times

India has been a victim of much false propaganda, which has led to serious ramifications for the country. We have seen on multiple occasions that propagandist are the loudest who seek to overwhelm the silent truth. False propaganda has sought to drive the narrative and overwhelm any reform measure.

Any reform will hurt some vested interest groups. Vested interest along with political opposition (who will oppose anything and everything) and at times inspired by unfriendly foreign forces (Greta Thunberg and Rihanna for their infamous tweet supporting farmer protests) will almost always overwhelm the slow, bumbling government bureaucracy, which is generally wary of propaganda.

For example, the misinformation of discontinuation of Minimum Support Price (MSP), despite repeated assurances by the government, has derailed the Farm Laws.

Recently a First Information Report (FIR) was lodged against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and other senior journalists for falsely tweeting that the Delhi Police had shot at a protesting farmer riding the tractor during the farmers' tractor rally on Republic Day. It was clarified with CCTV footage that he died after his tractor rammed into the police barricade and turned turtle. Moreover, the forensic report showed no bullet injuries on the body of the protestor.

When President of India unveiled the portrait of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at Rashtrapati Bhavan to commemorate his 125th birth anniversary celebrations, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, journalists Barkha Dutt, Sagarika Ghose, etc., falsely ridiculed that the portrait was not of Netaji but that of Bengali actor Prosenjit Chatterjee, who had played the role of Netaji in a film, despite government sources reiterating that the portrait was indeed that of Netaji.

Misinformation related to the coronavirus pandemic has been rampant with social media messages on home remedies that have not been verified, fake advisories and conspiracy theories have contributed to vaccine hesitancy.

Recently, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had made a false claim that a 'Singapore variant' of Covid-19, which is "very dangerous" for children, could herald a 'third wave' in India. Thus we must stop all flights with Singapore.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry (MFA) had hit out at him for making false claims without checking the facts and also debunked the social media assertions. In recent weeks, the strain prevalent in many of the Covid-19 cases is the B.1.617.2 variant, which was first detected in India. Singapore has threatened to invoke POFMA against Kejriwal.

The Question Of Freedom Of Speech And Expression

Article 19(1) of the Constitution of India guarantees Freedom of Speech and Expression. It is pertinent to note that the above right is not absolute and has certain limitations such as matters that are against foreign relations, public policy, integrity and sovereignty of the State, decency and morality, public order, etc., as mentioned in Article 19(2) of the Constitution of India. Freedom of Speech is not freedom to speak lies.

POFMA is controversial and has received criticism both locally and internationally by opposition politicians, human rights groups, journalists and academics. There were concerns that the Act would enable authorities to suppress criticism and dissent.

However, safeguards are required to curb fake news. An Indian version of POFMA will act as a deterrent to mischief mongers spreading fake news in India. Fake news, when not debunked, can derail reforms, create false narratives, blemish reputations and can potentially create unrest or mob violence in society. It is about time India has its version of POFMA to counter the false narratives.

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Singapore Has A 'Fake News Law'; What Are The Arguments For A Similar Legislation In India? - Swarajya