Theresa Payton

It's a bit tough to figure out the audience to which this is aimed. There's a general rule in cyber-security to avoid focusing on FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) and this book includes plenty of those. On the other hand, it does offer clear instructions at the end that suggest a path forward both individually and collectively.

As somebody who knows a thing or two about the field, I still learned, or at least more thoroughly incorporated, a few of the ideas into my general thinking. Most specifically, the fact that the forces of chaos literally don't care which side you are on just so long as your emotions get dragged into political decision-making leads one to question even more closely the idea that there are forces of good and evil on social networks. The end result becomes, to quote the early-'80s Matthew Broderick "thriller" Wargames, the only way to win is not to play.

Still, an awful lot of the remedies prescribed feel like wishful thinking until some sort of political action is created[1], and so the sense of helplessness engendered by the book is a bit of a downer when all is said and done.
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[1] Or in an even better world, if we could depoliticize the entire subject and agree that election and other interference by non-US nation-state actors is bad.… (meer)

This book looks at who, and what, is behind the huge rise in online "fake news." The author places most of the blame on Russia; China, Iran and North Korea are certainly involved, but Russia is behind the vast majority of the nonsense on social media. Their object is not just to influence American elections, but to create conflict and hatred among Americans over elections, fracking, vaccinations and race relations.

Is there anything the average American can do about it? Facebook and Twitter have ways to flag posts as fake news. If you find something that obviously fits, don't be afraid to use them. Get in the habit of visiting fact check sites like factcheck.org and politifact.com. Don't just automatically pass along an incendiary post; think about it. Does it come from a reputable news organization? Can you go to that organization's website to see the original video? Is it clickbait, like "You won't believe what ( ) just said!"?

This book deserves more than 5 stars. It is very interesting and eye-opening and easy to understand. It is also highly recommended.… (meer)